


Lost And Found

by Killiol13



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Nevermind no ships, Other, i'm sorry everyone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2018-08-30 21:51:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 27,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8550481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Killiol13/pseuds/Killiol13
Summary: One of the paladins gets captured, and it all goes downhill from there. Will everything ever be the same again?(I really do suck at summeries)WILL BE UPDATED FREQUENTLY





	1. Stolen Property

**Author's Note:**

> So Sorry Everyone! This is my first ever voltron , and my first I've posted online! 
> 
> OK, so, I might be changing some story lines and details, so, I'm sorry if it bugs you. But, otherwise this would be terrible and way hard to write.
> 
> Well, I hope this works. Enjoy the fic and leave kudos please!
> 
> Some Chapters(such as the first) will be in first person, but most will be in third person veiw.
> 
> WILL BE UPDATED FREQUENTLY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of the Voltron Members are captured by the Galra.

It was dark, and cold. Where was I? What happened? 

I tried to think, but my head was pounding. Why did everywhere hurt so bad?

I tried sitting up, but the spinning in my head made it next to impossible. I did eventualy, but there was no way I was going to get past sitting up. It all just hurt, way to much. Man, why was I so dizzy? Why did my head hurt so bad, and why was it so dark in here? What was going on? Millions of ranting questions zommed through my head as I struggled to recall what had happened. As I was pondering my shouting thoughts and ideas, my vision started to adjust. The room wasn't completely dark. A small window on a large wall across from where I was sitting was lit with purple light. I seemed to be in a cell, judging by the dark and musty smell room I was in. Wait, when was my sense of smell that good?

I continued to look around. I was sitting on a metal bench attached to a wall, and the whole room seemed to be metal. I was eerily quiet. If someone dropped a cotton ball, I would be able to hear it. Yep, this was definatley some sort of cell. I found myself focused and almost drawn to the strange and eerie purple light coming from the smal window. _Purple_. That one word drowned out the other thoughts in my head. _Purple. Purple._

Wait. Purple?

No. Galra! 

Suddenly memories of fighting the Galra with Voltron filled my head. 'We failed' I remembered, 'We had to retreat'. I remembered going into a room where they claimed to hold prisoners, two bieng Pidge's family members, and then, the room was brought to life by the glowing blasts of the drone's guns. Then what was I doing here? _Oh no_ , where was the rest of Voltron? Did they make it out alive?

Were they here too?

I shot up suddenly, attempting to stand, but the pounding in my head and the pain that struck my whole body forced me to sit back down. I groaned out load. I need to find them. Where are they? Are they hurt? Are they even still alive? I forced myself to forget the last one. They had to be alive, they meant so much to me. It was the firsttime I felt like I had real friends, and I couldn't survive without them. I felt my chest tighten as billions of scenarios and images of everyone in pain or worse filled my head.

"Please be ok", I muttered quietly just incase a guard or any other Galra was outside or listening. _Please, you all have to be ok._

Suddenly, the door to my cell opened, and a tall masculine figure stepped in. I recognized the figure as soon as he stepped inside. His purple skin covered in red armour, and a long cape dragging behind him.

Zarkon.

His figure loomed above me, tall and masculine. Most of it came from bieng galra, but he was bigger than most of the galra I had seen. I felt small next to him, especially because I was sitting down. He stared down at me, his glowing purple eyes watched me from where I sat.

"What do you want?" I hissed at him. I was slightly surprised at the way my voice sounded. It was hoarse and quiet, but I still managed to get my point of hating him across. **"Ah"** He said, obviously ignoring my words. **"I see you're awake."** I glared up at him with as much anger as I could muster, but it was hard to with the constant pounding in my head. He started to walk over and was soon right in front of me. He grasped my face in his large hand and turned my face side to side. I groaned and closed my eyes in discomfort, it hurt, **a lot. "Yes"** He muttered, **"You will be a fine one indeed. We will have fun with you."** He gave a low menacing chuckle. "W-what are you p-planning to do to me?" I growled back at him, but my throat was burning. So much for a tough act. 

 **"Mmm, lots of things"** He hummed almost cheerfully. **"We will make you into a fine soilder"** He paused, his violet eyes tortured me as they loomed down at me. **"But first, we'll have to do some experiments."** Suddenly, as if on cue, four guards came in and roughly grabbed my and hoisted my up into a standing position. I tried to resist, but I was to weak at the moment, so my efforts were useless.

As they dragged my down the cold metal hall, I say that the walls were lined with cells. What if one of the other Paladins are in there? I tried to see into any of the other cells, but the windows were to small to gaze into as I passed them by. **"You know, a lot of us were surprised by you. We haven't seen anything like you for a very long time."** He remarked as the guards threw me into a room with Zarkon and then left. 

"What do you mean? I'm a human, you've seen my kind." I glared weakly up at him.

 **"Oh my boy, it appears you do not know where you come from. Allow me to explain."** He knelt down and got very close to my face. **"You, Paladin, are a Galra, or, should I say, a Galra-Human Hybrid. After all, I did give you hints when I told you that you fight like a Galran soilder."**

 **"Your friends were forced to retreat and were unable to obtain you. But little do they know that they will be seeing you sooner than they expect."** He grinned down at me from his throne. My eyes narrowed at his words. What was he talking about. The tightening in my chest had reached its max now. "Whatever your planning to make me do, I won't do it. I'd rather **die** than help you."

He continued to grin down at me, and he almost looked fueled by my words. I stared back up at him, trying to make my point that I would never, not in a million years, help him. **"Oh no, your not going to help me. Not yet. First, you are going to become my next lethal weapon to destroy the Paladins of Voltron."** He motioned towards Haggar, who apparently had been standing beside his throne the whole time. I hadn't even noticed her (him?).

 **"Haggar and the druids will fix you up. Then we will make sure you are prepared to start your training to destroy Voltron. After all, they can't form Voltron without the red loin can they?"** He began laughing, slow and deep at first, but it began to grow louder as the guards, Haggar following close behind, dragged me away.

I stared back at his shrinking figure as I started to panick. _No_ , I thought, _I don't want to hurt them_. I began to try and break free of the guards' strong grasp, but I was still weak, even with the sudden adrenaline rush I recieved by panick. I kicked and squirmed still as hard as I could, I didn't want this. I wasn't going out without a fight, and I was definately not going to hurt any of my friends, which I now considered family.  

"NO!" I cried back at him. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS. YOU CAN'T!" He just laughed back at me. **"Watch me."** He replied as the doors slammed. Then there was darkness, and something hard hit the back of my head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO......
> 
>  
> 
> What going to happen to Keith?
> 
> Don't worry, I'm working on the next chapter and it will probably be posted in about two weeks at the most(hopefully)
> 
> So, again this is my first fanfiction, so if it's terrible please tell me. If you do then I can improve!
> 
> Love Voltron!


	2. Where are you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So now you know that Keith is the one who Zarkon captured. 
> 
> In this chapter you will be with the other members so, sorry! You won't know what will happen to him yet, but you need to know what's goin on witht the others. Why? Because I'm the writer, not you.

Lance felt the cold air rush onto his face. He felt strangly refreshed, like waking up from a peaceful dream. He breathed in a deep breath of relief at the nice feeling he was experiencing, but the feeling was short lived as he felt himself tipping to his left. He tried to stop himself from falling, but he was still in his half-alseep state and just couldn't stop the strong unstoppable force called gravity. With his face just inches from the ground, he prepared for impact. But just as he was about to hit the ground, he felt a pair of strong and well built arms grasp onto him. 

"Hey buddy, you feeling ok?" a voice  from just above gently asked him. Lance looked up in the direction of voice, which he did in fact recognize. It was a bit hard to make out because of the fuzzy feeling he had in his head, but he managed to lift his head up just enough to find the source of the voice. "Shiro?" Lance looked up at him. Sure enough, it was Shiro, but was it a dream? Because Lance still felt like he wasn't awake yet."Yeah" Shiro said back, as if he had read Lance's question in the back of his mind. Shiro's face looked mostly releived, but Lance could see that he also looked kind of sad and worried, like something was bugging him, but he was trying to hide it. Lance had only a few questions on his mind.

What happened?

Why was he here?

Where was he?

Where was blue?

Suddenly Lance remembered the "easy" mission. It was just supposed to be a grab-and-get-the-heck-out-of-there mission. They hadn't succeeded, which was obvious by the room they were in. They were back at the Castle, in the room with the healing pods, which Lance had just fallen out of. He looked around and saw the rest of the pods, but by the way he was standing, he coulnd't possibly see if anyone was in one or not. He remembered bieng hit in the chest by one of the Galran soilder's guns, and Keith, moving in front of him as he fell, shouting his name as he fell to the ground. Lance's head shot up suddenly.

"Shiro, where's Keith? And... and where's everyone else? Are they ok?" Lance asked with rapid speed, clearly panicking. He stood up and grabbed Shiro's broad shoulders. Shiro looked a bit shocked by Lance's sudden energy. "And.....and" Lance was struggling to catch his breath as he tried to ask a million other questions.

"Woah, slow down Lance. Hunk and Pidge are still in thier healing pods right now, and Allura and Coran are in castle ships main control room." Shiro replied while also trying to keep Lance from moving around to much. 

"And Keith?" Lance stopped trying to stand on his own and gave a concerned look towards Shiro, hoping to get answers.

Shiro's whole body tensed at the mention of Keith. He helped Lance over to a white couch with blue lights that was in the far corner of the large room.

"Here, you better sit down" Shiro said as Lance sat down on the couch. Lance's headache was starting to fade away and he wasn't very tired anymore, so he could sit up on his own now. He stared at Shiro with great concern, fearing the worst.

Was Keith dead?

"Why?" Lance was starting to get extremely worried. Shiro looked very serious, which wasn't normal for him. _Oh no_ , Lance thought, _something really bad must have happened to_ _Keith, or maybe I'm just overthinking this. Maybe the castle ship is broken, or one of the lions. But then again, Shiro told me to sit down when I asked about him. "_ What happened. Is Keith Ok?" Lance asked.

"We...don't know-" Shiro started, but Lance cut him off. "What, is he hurt? What's wrong?" Lance's body got tense, and he started to raise his voice in panic. 

"Lance, calm down. You haven't even let me tell you anything yet." Shiro put his hand on Lance's shoulders and stared directly into his eyes. Shiro knew that Lance secretly cared for his little brother, even though they it seemed like they fought non-stop. 

"Lance" Shiro began, slowly and cautiously."We don't know if Keith is ok. The truth is we don't even know where he is right now." Lance looked at Shiro with worry in his eyes. It was clear that Lance wanted answers. But, Shiro didn't really want to remind himself of how he couldn't get to Keith fast enough. How, in order to protect his team, he had to leave his only remaining family behind. Or how, he promised not to leave Keith alone.

Shiro was the one who convinced his mother and father that they needed to adopt Keith. He distinctly remembered the day he found Keith. He was on his way to school, like any other day. When a coughing noise from an alley drew his attention. He knew to avoid strangers, but he also was taught to help those in need. As he reached the end of the alley, with no luck in finding the owner of the noise, he noticed a small boy with dark hair staring up at him from behind a trash can. Shiro remembered looking into those tired, fearful violet eyes. He remembered running out of the alley and calling his parents. Shortly after, Keith woke up at the hospital with Shiro and his parents. His parents asked him about his parents. Keith flinched and said they were on a vacation, in which they wouldn't be home for at least another four weeks.They immediatly brought Keith to his home after he was released from the hospital and easily convinced Keith, and not so easily convinced his parents to call his present foster parents. They were the ninth foster parents that had adopted him, and Shiro learned later on that they had been abusive. They more than willing handed over the adoption papers, and since then Keith was Shiro's "brother". That was when he made the promise to never leave Keith alone ever again.

Some brother he was.

He had broken that promise multiple times, not really on purpose, since it was a very hard promise to keep. And bieng captured was out of his control. But that didn't mean he still felt guilty about the times he had left him.

Like when he accepted the mission to Kerberos even though Keith felt nervous about him going. 

Or when he told Keith to go look for red on his own.

Or those many times he ignored Keith so he could study, and for what? The Garrison didn't even believe their most trusted student when Shiro had told them about the Galra.

Those had been things that Shiro had very little control over. And Shiro knew Keith is more than cabable of handling himself. But he knew how Keith secretly hated to be alone. Even feared it.

Or how Keith doesn't sleep very well.

Shiro just felt sick to his stomach. He knew how the Galra treated thier prisoners, and he knew that Keith would probably be picked on the most by the Galra. Shiro felt sick, knowing that they might do something to Keith similar to what they did to him, or how they might force him to work for them because of his amazing comat and flight skills. He didn't want to think of the worst possible thing that could happen. Death. More than anything, he just wanted Keith to be there when they came back for him.

Shiro took a deep breath before beggining again.

"He was cornered by a fleet of Galran centries, and we couldn't get to him in time. All of you were wounded and..." Shiro paused, trying not to get emotional as tears started to sting his eyes. "And we had to get out of their, we all tried to run, but Keith was cornered. Before I could even turn around, they shut the door. I couldn't get in. I couldn't stop them from taking him." 

Shiro was close to crying, and Lance already had tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I-I should have saved him. I....I should have tried harder." Lance stated with a shaky voice. It was clear to Shiro that Lance was blaming himself for what had happened to Keith. 

"Lance, it wasn't your fault, you were shot with one of their guns and knocked uncouncious. I know you did the best you could. It's not your fault." Shiro said, putting a reasuring hand on Lance's shoulder.

Suddenly, the door to the room slid open. A tired looking Allura and Coran stepped in. Lance hastily wiped the tears off his face. 

"Ah, Lance! I see your awake! Good." Allura said putting on a smile, and Lance smiled back at the her. Then she turned to Shiro. "I take that you've already told him about our current prediciment?" Allura asked him. 

"Yes" Shiro relied."Did you find anything out about where he is?"

"Well, we don't know exactly were he is, but we know the ship he is currently on and where that ship is." Coran replied, stroking his orange mustache thoughtfully. 

"That's good news." Lance commented. 

Allura opened her mouth to say something else, but was interupted by the opening of two other pods in the room. Shiro and Lance rushed over before Hunk or Pidge fell over.

"Ugh, what happened?" Pidge asked grogily. 

"Yeah, and why are we in the pods?" Hunk asked after Pidge.

"Come and sit, I'm afraid we have some very bad news to share with you both" Allura said, motioning for Shiro and Lance to help them into the Castle's living room. (Sorry I didn't know what else to call it) .

They all headed into the room, and Allura explained to them what had happened.

"What?!" Hunk and Pidge shouted in unison. 

"H-how" Pidge asked, biting her lip. Hunk looked more than upset and everyone could tell he was trying his hardest not to cry.

"We just told you how" Allura replied gravely.

"I know, but, Keith is y'know, really good at fighting. A-and he shouls've gotten out of there by himself. Maybe he did! Maybe he's on his way to the ship right now!" Pidge shouted, trying to convince herself that Keith wasn't suffering on the ship like her family was. She never showed it, but she kind of thought of Keith as a cool, moodie older brother. They actually got along pretty well.

"Fortuanatly there is some good news." Allura stated. Pidge and Hunk's heads shot up and their eyes widened in surpise.

"What is it?" Hunk asked frantically.

"We know what ship Keith is currently on, and, we know where that ship is." Coran stated in a happier tone. Hunk and Pidge's faces showed different signs of relief. 

"In fact, it's not to far from here, so unless he doesn't get moved within the next three days, we should be able to find him easily. And when we get close enough we'll know exactly where he is."Coran stated, holding his index finger up in a clarifing manner.

They all smiled in relief, but they still had that thought lurking in the back of their minds.

_**What if this isn't as good as it seems.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo Sorry! I had serious block while writing this chapter, so, ya! Took way longer than I expected.
> 
> Hope you like it! And don't worry violence and angst is in the next chapter with Keith and others!
> 
> I will get done with chapter 3 as soon as possible let's just hope I don't get writers block again!
> 
> Love Voltron!


	3. Abuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is hurt, and I am sorry.

Keith watched the three shadowy figures outside of his smaller and cramped cell. He was alone. He could hear the Galran druids discusing what he assumed to be his fate in low bird-sounding jibberesh. Keith was scared, heck, he was terrified. 

Suddenly the druids all turned toward his cell, twelve pairs of eyes mocked him as he sat with his knees to his chest in his cell. They opened the door and grabbed his arms roughly, dragging him out into the bright, purple-lit room. He winced and the blinding light, since he had been in the almost pitch black room for what seemed like days. 

They dragged him to a wall on the oppisite side of where his cell was; the wall was covered in beat up-looking chains and shackles. Keith was 100% sure of what was coming.

They were going to beat him before expiramenting on him, just like Shiro.

They all wanted to hear his screams of pain.

Two of the druids held him up, and the other druid chained his hands to the wall. Keith felt the painfully cold metal pushing against his skin as it locked in place. He was too weak to struggle, too wek to even try to break free. He doubted that he even could if he had the strength to try, judging by the looks of his cuffs. They weren't fancy, but that didn't mean they weren't sturdy either. He was sore all over, and he hadn't gotten any sleep. He was afraid. Afraid of what would happen to him, afraid of what would happen to Voltron if he left. _They'll probably be here soon_ , Keith thought, _I'm going to be ok. They'll except me as I am. They wouldn't just leave me, even if I am half Galra._ Keith prayed for this with alll of his heart. He prayed that they wouldn't leave him to die alone.

Keith felt a sudden strong jolt of energy run trough every part of his body, as the three druids shocked him all at once. Oh, did it hurt. Keith screamed out in pain. He was really praying for help now. Especially if this is what it was going to be like.

They stopped shocking him, and one of them drifted eerily over to him. It was right in front of him now.

It raised his arms and touched his finger gentlly. Keith was smart enough to know that it wasn't a love tap. Something bad was going to happen.

It suddenly harshley grabbed his two index fingers with both of it's clawed hands. * **SNAP** * was all keith could hear as it snapped his all the bones in his index fingers, then moved to his thumbs. * **CRACK** *. Then it moved to his pointer fingers. * **SNAP, SNAP** * Then his ring fingers, then his pinkeys. Keith screamed loudly as the druid went through this process. Then it drfted out of sight, and Keith's head dropped down in pain and exaustion. Then he could faintly make out the bottom of the cloak of another druid, who came over and kicked both his legs, breaking those as well. He screamed, but not as loud this time. It then punched him in the stomach and continued to shock him.

He didn't know that that the druids were this strong, and violent.

Keith could now only make groans of pain. He felt sick as he caught a glimpse of his blood covered fingers. The light reflecting off the blood and bones jutting out in odd directions.  

Red dots danced in his eyes, and he was barely able to make it out the third druid raising an electrified fist, ready to strike him again. Keith braced for impact as best he could. He held his breath.

But he felt nothing.

He slowly opened his right eye in caution, but he only saw the druids drifting slowly back and forth in front of him.

He tried to speak, but he found that his voice was horse an unusable at the moment. So he watched, and waited.

Were they going to kill him?

Or lock him up and continue to torture him day after day?

All he could do was watch, wait, and listen as best he could.

"Hahahahaha. I see you are taking this little  _gift_   quite well." Haggar said, only her wild smirk and narrowed yellow eyes visable in the darkness. 

Keith just gave the best glare he could. After all, what else could he do?

Haggar drifted silently to where he was chained. "Yes, I think you will make a very fine soilder." She paused and gently grabbed his chin. " We won't break you quiet yet. But, for now..."

She pulled a yellow syringe out of her long, torn robe. "You must first at least look like a soilder."

She then raised her thin arm and jabbed the syringe into his arm pushed the glowing yellow liquid into his bloodstream.

Keith screamed louder than he ever had in his life.

Pain rippled through his entire body.

He wanted it to stop.

He screamed for what felt like and eternity.

Then...

Everything went dark.


	4. A Forgotten New

 

Keith sat on the stone-like bed, mindlessly fidgeting with his hands. The dim purple light coming through his small cell window was the only thing reminding his mind that he was not alone in some dark corner of his thoughts. But, he always managed to remember that he wasn't truly alone. After all, he had to cheer himself up somehow. There were thousands, if not millions of other prisoners suffering on the ship. But his cell was dark, and they didn't give him anyone to suffer with, to talk with. He guessed that he didn't really deserve it.

After all, he was the enemy.

To both sides.

Why else would his friends, his closest thing to family, abandon him on a torturous ship for six months? If they really cared, they would have found him already. But it didn't really matter to him much anymore, he expected just as much. After all every family he has ever had eventually left. Even Shiro disappeared from his life. Keith just guessed that was how his life was going to be from now on. He was just a piece of bad luck, he wasn't worth anything to anyone. His inner thoughts and turmoil was staring to drive him down a winding road of depression and insanity. Yippee for him, he thought sarcastically. Well it's what a monster like him deserved.

He flexed his left arm, then rubbed the cold metal with his right. The Galra had altered him so much, he wasn't even sure what he was anymore. His metal arm was designed to look just like his right (Which hadn't been ripped off, yet), more clawed and Galra looking than Shiro's. The metal was a sheen black, with abilities that Keith had not yet unlocked. It could create and use electricity. The ability was useful, but he wondered how much they needed to cut off and replace in order to satisfy them. 

They even took it to the level of infusing his bone with metal , after they had clawed up the skin on his back mercilessly in order to create an opening. This is what they called, "surgery". At least he had protection from any broken bones, and, he was glad they weren't replacing his innards with robotic parts. He was always wondering if they were going to make him fully robotic anytime soon.

For now though, he was their bionic supersoilder. From what he was told by Zarkon, he was going to be mind- washed and used as a weapon against Voltron. He felt betrayed by their absence, but there was no way in hell he was going to fight the closest thing to family he had. After all, they still cared about him, right?

The opening of his cell door stunned him from his inner reasoning. He squinted at the brightness of the sudden light, and was roughly able to make out 2 robotic guards.

"Prisoner 280, you're needed in Zarkon's presence." The guard walking in and put cuffs back on him, a process he had gotten used to.

"Try anything, and you will be terminated."

Ah, of course. He had heard that threat countless times. He had tried to escape in the beginning, but he had learned that had lost him a few limbs, so he stopped trying. He thought he could've just hung tight while he waited to be rescued by his team, or anyone, but he had given up hope so far.

The guard escorted him down several long chains of hallways.  _Left, then right, then left, left again._ Keith had memorized the directions to the main control room, after all he might need it later.  _Too bad they never led him anywhere with escape pods nearby._

They stopped in front of a large door with a large symbol over it. Keith new this door well. Zarkon loved to talk to him, after all. Keith wondered what he wanted this time. It was usually to remind him of how low and pathetic he was, or to tell him that he was close to obtaining Voltron...

Keith had learned not to speak unless spoken to when he was in Zarkon's presence. If he spoke out of line at all, he would receive a cut or a shock, nothing to bad compared to what they had done in his six months of torture. The skin on his back (which covered his metal under-skeleton) had been clawed up the most, so he imagined it looked like a mess of deep wounds and large scars. He didn't really have a mirror so he wasn't able to check. He didn't want to see himself anyway. He didn't want to see his purple skin, large ears, and dark purpleish-raven hair again. He hoped it was an illusion. And he hoped that Voltron would accept him if this is what he looked like. He was still him after all.

A large, booming voice led him back to the painful reality.

 **"It's been quite a while since we last met, paladin. I hope you've been feeling well."**  Zarkon mused over the broken solider. Keith knew he was the one who decided the torture, he was the one who called all the shots. He was just mocking him.

Keith just looked up with tired eyes. He had lost his firery rge as soon as he was faced with his own personal realization that no one was going save him. He never really glared at anyone as hard as he used to anymore. He was to tired and worn out anyway...

 **"I have an offer for you, one you won't be able to resist."**  Zarkon smirked. Keith cautiously raised an eyebrow. He would have asked what, but he had scars he had from making that decision earlier told him otherwise.

" **I have decided to make you one of my top generals. Once you've been properly trained and suited, you will lead a fine army of druids."** He smiled. **"If you do not except, you will spend the rest of your miserable life in the cells. You wouldn't want that, would you?** " Zarkon asked. Keith knew he had permission to speak now.

"No I wouldn't, sir" He said, after thinking for a moment. What choice did he have? He was sick of being tortured. He couldn't bear it any longer. And besides, if he became a general, he could find a way to destroy the empire, shut it down from the inside.

 **"Is that a yes, General?"**  Zarkon loomed over him.

"Yes, sir." Keith said a slight smirk on his face. This was going to be great. He couldn't wait to see the look on Zarkon's face when his entire empire was destroyed.

 **"Good. From now on, you will be known as General Kioreth. Hagar will get you a proper uniform, and after that you will begin your training. Do not let me down."**  Zarkon's tone was warning enough.

"Yes sir."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long everyone! I had such a busy summer, and, to be honest, I kinda forgot I was even writing this. That's just a forgetful me!


	5. Last Strings of Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So what ever happened to the others finding Keith quickly?

<<<Rewind

(Mostly Lance’s pov)

Lance was starting to get restless. It had been almost a month since Keith had been captured by the wretched Galra. Lance wished he had the power to turn back time. Maybe, if he had been more careful, and not so focused on one of the female prisoners that they had rescued, he could have dodged the blow from the Galra’s laser guns. If he had just focused on the mission like he was supposed to, he could have…could have…he could have done a million things different.

He could have fought less with Keith.

He could have helped more.

He could have…

He should have…

His thoughts were a torment of regrets. He wasn’t listening to anything Coran was saying, he just couldn’t think straight. He doubted anyone was paying attention. He glanced over at Shiro. He had been more distant and talked less since all of this happened. Lance was sure he was blaming himself. Pidge looked tired, probably from staying up late looking for Keith and her brother on her computer’s scanners.

Hunk looked like he was semi-paying attention, but Lance could tell his best friend was just as sad as the rest of them. He looked at Allura. Her multi-colored eyes showed that she wanted to violently tear Zarkon’s head of and then throw it into the black abyss of space, but her face was a calm mask as she nodded in agreement at whatever Coran was saying.

“There are about four main Galran warships nearby, all holding prisoners.” He said pulling up a holographic map of the area around them.

“Pidge?” he said suddenly.

“Y-yeah?” Pidge stuttered, waking up from being half asleep.

“Do you think you could hack into the ship’s system if we got close enough?” Coran asked gently, understanding that she, as well as everyone else, was still struggling with the loss of their red paladin.

“Umm, I think so. If not, we’ll have to go in and find the mainframe.” She said. This hope almost brought light to her eyes as she leaned forward in her seat and activated the computer in front of her.

“Do you really think Keith could be on one of these ships?” Hunk said, after Coran had paused.

“Well, it is very possible. We know that he’s on a prisoner ship, so these could very well be the ones.” He said. He smiled at Hunk.

“Yes, Coran is right. Although it is hard to find him without a signal from his suit, there is always hope.” Allura said, trying to encourage everyone.

Shiro remembered how much hope there had been at the beginning. They had found Keith’s signal from his suit on one of the nearby prison ships. But when they had gotten in, all they found was the red armor, discarded from the former owner. It was sitting in an empty prison cell, where about 20 Galran droid soldiers were waiting to attack and kill them. Fortunately, they managed to escape with the armor and the Bayard safely in Shiro and Hunk’s grasp.

“I have readings on a couple large groups of prisoners. They’re on the first and third ship.” Pidge said enthusiastically.

“Everyone get ready!” Allura shouted, “We may not be able to form Voltron, but we can still fight.”

Lance rushed to blue, and took off from his hanger, ready to save Keith, and any other prisoner that was on those ships.

Current time.

(Shiro’s pov)

They had all searched ship after ship, planet after planet. And there was still no sign of Pidge’s brother, or Keith. Everyone was getting restless, and less hopeful. Without Keith, without Voltron, there would be no hope of saving the universe.

Shiro wondered if this is what Keith felt like when he had been captured. The hope of Keith not being dead, the hope that they hadn’t hurt him as bad as they did him. Keith probably had felt the same way, doubting that Shiro wasn’t dead, and hoping.

Shiro was still holding on to whatever hope there was. He wasn’t ever going to give up on Keith, he never had, and never would. He would keep searching, for as long as it would take.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's taking me so long to post stuff. It's my first year of high school and I'm stressing. 
> 
> So sorry!!!
> 
> Please tell me if there are any spelling errors, and please tell me if I'm doing a good job, or tell me if I'm doing terrible.
> 
> Love Voltron!


	6. Broken Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> General Kioreth (Keith) sees potential in one of the familiar prisoners.

***CRASH***

The giant hammer was swung forcefully to the ground, nearly smashing Matt to death. He quickly got to his feet, holding the small sword that he had been given by the Galra in his right hand tightly. He wished, more than anything, that he was back at home with Katie and his parents. He always wondered how she was doing.

He was suddenly slammed forcefully into the wall with a quick swing of the giant Galra's hammer. The impact alone was enough to take his breath away, and leave a minor dent in the wall. He stood up shakily, preparing for another blow. He knew he wouldn't pull through on this fight.

General Kioreth studied him from his seat in the arena.  _Was this Pidge's brother? It had to be, no doubt about it._ He looked just like her, only taller and with no glasses. They must have broken the pair he had. He really shouldn't be in the arena if he needed glasses.

The arena wasn't a place for the prisoners to fight to death, it was a place for the generals to find worthy soldiers. Though, most of the generals are incredibly picky, and most are too lazy to train them into professional fighters. But Kioreth, on the other hand, was definitely going to take this one. He had to.

He stood up and held up his hand, the signal to stop. Matt was scrunched up in a corner of the arena, seconds away from having his head smashed open. He didn't want to die yet, he had so much he wanted to do. He wanted to see his family again. He waited for the pain, but it didn't come. He opened one eye, confused. He saw the giant of a Galra standing above him, glaring down.

Did someone really chose him?

Why him?

He wasn't an exceptional fighter at all, he was clumsy, and he was small compared to a lot of the prisoners. So why?

He turned his attention to the one who had stopped the fight. He found a very small looking Galra, with his hair pulled back with a clip. He was wearing the armor of one of the higher placed generals, but something was strange about him. He looked different from the rest of the Galra, but he couldn't place how.

"I would like to take this one." He stated. His tone was very flat, with no emotion.

There was several groans heard from around the arena, but Matt was more than relieved. He saw that the General had already disappeared. He was lead down a series of halls before they came to a large door. The two Galran droids who were guarding Matt stood silently. The doors suddenly opened to reveal a large room with several computers and holograms.

"Thank you. You may go now." A voice said from beside him. Matt jumped, noticing that the general was right beside him. The guards nodded and left. Matt was a bit surprised, generals never usually said thank you, or even had a sense of respect. As if the general had read his mind, he put his hand on Matt's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm not like those Galran bas***ds." He said. He put on a faint smile.

"Ar-aren't you a Galra?" Matt asked as bravely as he could. He knew that some generals punished their soldiers for speaking out of place.

"Barely." He said, removing the cuffs around Matt's wrists. He went and put them on a nearby table.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked cautiously. The general paused a moment, before his yellow eyes turned to look at him. Matt felt his body go cold. That stare was haunting, almost like it was going through him, but at the same time, it felt like he was being studied thoroughly.

"I'm only half-Galra." He replied plainly, turning his attention to a computer nearby.

"O-oh" Matt stuttered. He shifted nervously, not wanting to more.

"Feel free to move around. This space is yours as much as it's mine." He said with a slightly amused tone. "You don't have to be afraid of me Matt."

"Thank y- wait." Matt paused. He hadn't said his name to him yet, nor had he asked for it.

"How did you know my name?" Matt said suspiciously. He saw the general tense up. His fingers hovered above the holographic keyboard. Then Matt noticed the shiny metal covering the general's lower half of his left arm.

"I...I know your sister." He replied after what seemed like hours of silence and a soft sigh. Matt's eyes grew wide. How could have she been captured by the Galra? She was safe on Earth, right? How did he know that she was his sister? His expression grew dark, and sudden anger flooded him.

"Where is she? What have you done to her?" he demanded with a strong and firm voice. The general turned and looked at him with slight shock on his face. His eyes studied him like a hawk would study prey.

"Don't worry, she's not a prisoner. She's safe." He said. He walked over to him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Matt noticed many new details now that he was closer to him. He noticed that the general was no taller than he was, maybe even shorter. He could see a lighter yellow iris and a dark yellow pupil. It was like human eyes, covered with a light layer of yellow paint. He also noticed that he had very short fur, unlike most of that Galra that had fur.

"How do you know?" he said, his voice cracking and tears poured from his eyes. "How could you know her? She was on Earth!" Matt was near shouting now. Not from anger, but from the point of a broken man.

"So was I." The general said. Matt's eyes widened in surprise. Wait, what? How?

"How?" he asked.

"I'm half human. I-I used to look like you. Well, you know not like you, but y-y'know like-" Matt suddenly knew who this was. It was all clear now. The sudden stumbling over words. The voice. The hair. The height.

"Wait. Keith?" Matt said grabbing the now named general, hoping it was true.

"W-what?" The hopefully Keith said. His eyes suddenly grew wide, almost as if he was afraid of that name.

"Keith? Is it really you? Shiro's little brother?" Matt asked with enthusiasm. His expression was full of happiness, relief, hope, and curiosity. Keith hesitated for a moment.

That...was his name, right?

It had been so long. No one had referred to his by his real name for so long. He barely even remembered that that was his name.

"Y-yeah. I...I'm..." Keith stuttered, his right arm clutched around his left metal one nervously. He felt ashamed and scared. He was hoping that Matt would never find out who he truly was. He closed his eyes.

He was surprised to feel a pair of arms wrap firmly around him. His body stiffened. What was Matt doing?

Matt was firmly holding him in a hug, tears streaming down his face. He was so happy to know someone on this ship. He had so many questions.

"Oh my gosh! It is you! How on earth did you get here?!?" Matt said releasing Keith from his death-grip hug. Keith looked a little shook and confused.

"It's a long story." Keith said nervously. He paused and looked up at Matt, still slightly ashamed. "A-aren't you, y'know, afraid of me. I-I'm one of them. A monster." Keith said, his voice trailing off as his head drooped down. His large, cat like ears followed shortly. Matt could see tears dropping from his eyes. He was genuinely surprised, but then he quickly understood why Keith would think like this. The Galra were the ones who took him and Shiro away and tortured them. They brought sadness to so many others. He gave Keith a look of sympathy, and slowly wrapped Keith in another tight hug.

"Hey, it's ok. Don't cry. I mean, come on Keith, I've known you since you were little. I know you're not like them. Even if you are part Galran, you're still you. It's alright." Matt said, rubbing his back. Keith was sobbing now.

"I-I'm so afraid. I ha-ate it here. What will Shiro think? He'll hate me...after all the Galra have done..." Keith said through tears. Matt stared at Keith's shaking form, surprised. He released Keith from his hug, grasping his shoulders gently. He stared at his eyes the same way an older brother would.

"Why would Shiro ever hate you? He's your brother, and I know that he loves you more than anything in the world. You're the only family he has, he would never hate you that much." Matt said, trying to comfort the younger boy. Keith had been like a little brother to him, since of how close of family friends they were. Keith sniffled and gave Matt a small smile of thanks. Matt

"Did they hurt you?" Matt asked, his voice thick with concern.

"Yeah", Keith said, holding up his left arm. Upon further inspection, Matt could see that the lower half of his left arm had been completely replaced by a robotic prostetic. Matt's eyes went wide. That couldn't be. Why? Why did the Gales enjoy hurting people like this? Was it really necessary to rip of Keith's arm? Sure, they beat him mercilessly, but that was about all they did.But they stopped the torture and put him the arena after about two months.

"They tortured me for six months straight before offering to make me a general last month." Keith said with a flat tone. Matt felt sick to his stomach.

"Did they do anything else?" Matt asked gently, contrary to his growing hatred toward the Galra.

"Y-yeah. They ripped open my back, and infused my bones with metal. I-I don't know why, but they said that they were going to make stronger." Keith paused, looking up at Matt. He had a horrified expression, and his eyes were wide. "I...think they want to use me against Voltron."

Matt looked at Keith, feeling incredibly sorry for him. He put a hand on Keith head, ruffuling his hair and ears. He decided to change the subject.

"Well, you better tell me how on earth you got out here."

Keith smiled.

"I will."


	7. Forming Alliences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins rescue prisoners and get some possibly useful information.

Shiro quickly moved his metal hand to block the blow from the Galran droid’s sword. He gave a low grunt of effort as he shoved the heavy metal droid away, causing it to stumble backwards. He used that time to use his glowing hand to slice the droid in half.

He had his Bayard in his other hand, but he still felt more comfortable using his metal arm for combat. He wasn’t used to this whole Bayard thing. His attention was quickly turned to Hunk, as he was knocked back by a very large Galra, holding a humongous hammer. The Galra’s yellow eyes looked down at him, and it gave a low growl, raising it’s’ hammer.  Shiro was barely able to move out of the way in time as the hulking Galra brought the hammer down at an immense speed.

“Hunk! Are you alright?” Shiro shouted, in a slight panic. Hunk groggily sat up, looking a bit dazed by the blow.

“Ugh, yeah I think so…besides the fact that I might have brain damage.” Hunk wined, but it was in a joking manner that reassured Shiro that he was mostly alright.

“Shiro look out!” Hunk cried suddenly, bringing Shiro’s attention back to the 10 foot problem in front of him. He narrowly dodged the sudden blow of the hammer. He noticed that the Galra could swing it with ease, but once it hit the ground, the Galra struggled to pull it back up.

“Hunk!” Shiro called, dodging another swing.

“Yeah?” Hunk yelled back, wobbling as he stood. He reactivated his Bayard, ready for the fight.

“I need you to shoot him with all you got the next time his hammer hits the ground!” Shiro said, jumping backwards in order to dodge another quick swing.

“Got it!” Hunk shouted.

Shiro jumped from place to place, trying to make the Galra angry enough to slam his hammer to the ground. After what seemed like forever, the Galra raised his hammer above his head, and slammed it into the ground, barely missing Shiro. It grunted in effort, lifting with all its’ might.

“Now Hunk!” Shiro shouted.

Hunk quickly fired his canon-like Bayard at the Galra, hitting it away from its hammer. Then, firing at it again, and again, till it no longer moved.

Shiro let out a relieved sigh, and Hunk moved over to where Shiro was standing. Shiro then moved his hand up to push a button on his helmet, activating the comms.

“Are you guys alright?” A voice from the comms asked. It was Pidge, who was with Lance currently. They were making their way towards the main-frame, hoping to hack it and obtain the prisoner files that were on the ship.

“Yeah, we’re fine. We just ran into a little problem in our way. Any luck finding the main computer?” Shiro asked, still breathing heavily.

“Actually we just found it!” Lance exclaimed loudly over the comms, hurting everyone else’s ears. Pidge gave a slight groan at Lance. “What?” he asked.

“That’s good, get what you can Pidge. Good luck you two.” Shiro said. He then deactivated the comms and turned back at Hunk. They were both going to check the cells, looking for Keith, Matt, or any surviving prisoners.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

They had no luck finding Keith or Matt, but they did manage to steal almost all prisoner files, and rescue many groups of prisoners. They were all mostly different species of alien, some of them to badly injure to survive. After the had been healed, the paladins agreed to see if any of the prisoners knew anything about Keith or Matt, and, if possible, they would convince them to fight for freedom alongside Voltron.

“Excuse me everyone, but do any of you recognize these two?” Pidge asked pulling up a picture of Keith and a picture of Matt on all of the paladin’s wrist holograms. All the prisoners looked up as the pictures were brought around. Suddenly, one of the prisoners, a frog like alien with four eyes, spoke up.

“Ze one wit dee lighter fur on his head was in our prisoner group not too long ago.” He said in an excited tone, his voice thickly laced with an alien accent.

“Really? Can you tell us about him?” Hunk asked in a kind, reassuring voice. The alien hesitated for a bit, but then started to speak.

“He was a vewy kind lad, wit vewy nice eyes. He was placed in dee ring vewy often. But, he was chosen wrecently by a Gawran general to be a second in command. That does nota happen vewy often.” The Frog-alien said, looking down at the drink he had been given. He slowly looked up at the paladins. “He is eider vewy lucky, or vewy unlucky.”

The paladins all looked at each other, while Pidge just looked down with a distraught look on her face. Lance glanced around at the other former Galra prisoners. Most of them looked tired, while others were staring up with thanks written on their faces.

“Do, you by any chance know what the general was like?” Lance asked the frog alien. Before it could respond, another prisoner, which looked like a mix between a lizard, chicken, and caterpillar spoke up suddenly.

“That general was a very mysterious Galra. He never really spoke, unless he needed to. But, he was very kind to us prisoners. He never hurt us, or was mean, but he didn’t seem to like his own people. He told me once how much he hated them. I found him very strange.” The alien finished in its surprisingly high voice.

“A Galra that hates Galra? Why?” Hunk asked to no one in particular.

“Yeah, it is kind of weird, but I mean, I wouldn’t be too happy if humans started acting like the Galra and I was forced to follow them.” Lance said.

“But don’t all the Galra just mindlessly follow Zarkon without question?” Pidge asked.

“Well, no. The blade of Malmora doesn’t, and they’re Galran.” Shiro said, reminding the paladins of their allies.

“Oh yeah.” Pidge said, blushing in embarrassment.

“Well, we should probably get you all home, would you all like that?” Lance asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes please!” They all replied in unison.


	8. Author's Notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ._.

Sorry for this quick interuption, but I need to clarify a few things.

1\. If you have read this before I put this part in, you might want to go back and read Chapter 4 & 6\. I have made some major changes that are semi-important to the storyline.

2\. I am a very indecisive person, and I will most likely be making frequent changes to the storyline. (But for now, all changes are final.)

3\. There are some things about the timeline of this story that I want to go over (since I know it's getting confusing.), but I have decided not to write a whole chapter about it.

A. Keith tells Matt all the little details of everything that has happened up to this point in time. (Btw, the story begins about season 2, before they make an allience with the Blade). So Matt is all up to date.

B. When Keith is first a general (6 months after he is captured), he goes under an imense training regimen, where he learns how to use his new arm, his Galran abilities such as his hearing, eyesite, etc., and even learns the druid teleporting technique from Hagar. (The thing the druid does in season one). Then, about 2 months after he's a general, he recruits Matt. (Current time in story)

C. We are now at the time where Voltron has just begun an allience with the Blade of Malmora(hence they are metioned in the previous chapter). I'm going to skip over the final battle with Zarkon, since the paladins aren't curently able to form Voltron. But, they do somehow manage to put him on his death bed, and I'm now leading into season 3 stuff (the appearance of Lotor, etc.) Sorry about this! I just want to clarify my strange timeline so you all can enjoy this story as much as possible. Thank you all for all the comments, votes, and reads!


	9. In the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares and Escapes

Shiro ran through the halls of the Galran ship. There were prison cells on both sides of the hall, but, as far as he could see, no one was in any of them.  _That's strange_ , Shiro thought quickly as he kept his goal in mind. His brother had to be here somewhere. He just had to be. Shiro noticed in front of him that the hall he was running down was coming to a dead end.

Shiro was about to make a quick turn around, but stopped as his eye caught the shape of something, or someone in the back of the last cell to the left. Shiro turned on the comms, about to signal the other paladins, "Guys?" No response.

"Hello? Lance? Hunk? Anyone there?" Again, no response, just a quiet, eerie static buzzing in his ears.

Shiro turned off the comma and looked back at the direction from which he had came. He froze. The lights in the hallway had all blacked out, all except the ones illuminating the cell in front of him. His breath caught in his throat, he was beginning to panic. His eyes were wide with the fear of the unknown that darkness brought. He quickly turned back to the cell, trying to take the panic from his head. _This isn't right. Somethings not right._ _Just stay calm_.

He turned back to the cell door in front of him, and stared at it, confused and scared. It had changed into a more earth looking metal door, with a glowing purple door handle. Cell doors don't normally do that, do they? The purple light in front of him was the only thing illuminating the space around him now. It pulsated in the dark, almost daring him to open the door. After a moment of hesitation, he slowly moved his metal hand up, and grabbed the nob. He hesitated again before opening the door cautiously.

The room was pitch black, but he could make a form lying against the farthest wall of the cell. He slowly stepped into the room, preparing for any traps that might be present. Suddenly, all the lights sprang to life, illuminating the room. He squinted due to the sudden brightness, covering his eyes with his left arm.

Removing his arm from his eyes, he turned to look at what he assumed was a prisoner. He stopped moving. His heart stopped dead.  _No. No it...it can't. NO._ _ **NO**_. His hands were shaking, and his face was pale.

The prisoner that was in the cell, his brother, was lying against the cell wall. There was blood. So much blood. It was on the white walls, on the white floor, and all over Keith. His left arm was missing, and he was wearing a customary prisoner outfit. His face was covered in bruises and blood. His eyes were closed, and his mouth was slightly open. He had a stream of dried blood from his mouth to his chin. He was thin, and pale. Shiro couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He...he needed to...he had to...

**"KEITH!"**

**____________________________________________________________________________**

Shiro sat up in his bead, his breath heavy and panicked. His sheets were a messy pile on the edge of his bed, and his pillow was lying on the floor, a few feet away from him. His hand had been activated, glowing the same shade of purple as the ones in his nightmare. He quickly deactivated it, not wanting to think about what could be happening to Keith, the last remaining family he had.

It had been eight months since he had been captured, only four months shorter than the time Shiro had been held in a Galran prison. He didn't want to think that Keith could be dead. He had survived, and he was willing to bet that Keith could find a way to survive. His brother was strong, and he didn't want to know what the Galra had done to his little brother that he loved so much.

Tears streamed down his face. He wanted to see him safe, more than anything in the world, he just wanted his brother back. He didn't care about how stubborn, shut-out, and irrational he might have been. And, even though it was hard to deal with at times, he would still be crushed if they took his fighting spirit. He didn't care about any mistakes Keith might have made in the past. He just wanted him home, safe.

Suddenly, a small and timid knock echoed through his room. He made a small gasp and quickly tried to wipe the tears off of his face before saying, "Come in" in a shaky voice.

The mechanical door smoothly slid open, revealing the small form of the green paladin, who looked a bit tired and sheepish.

"Sorry. I-I heard you scream. Can I come in?" Pidge asked, fiddling with her hands and looking down.

"Of course" Shiro said, his voice still shaky.  _Had he really been screaming?_ He patted the space on the bed next to him, inviting her to sit down. She came and sat down, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I'm sorry Pidge, did I wake you up?" Shiro asked, putting his arm on her small shoulder in concern. Pidge was still looking down. "Pidge?" Her red eyes shot up to his face.

"Huh? Um, n-no, sorry. You didn't wake me up, I...I was already awake." She said, offering a weak smile. Shiro noticed that the area around her eyes was slightly red, she had been crying.

"How come?" He asked, already sure that he knew the answer. She looked down, as if she didn't want to say it.

"I, also had a nightmare, about Matt and Keith." She said. Her voice was sad, and it trailed off at the end. "I was awake for a little bit, and then I heard you scream Keith's name."

"Oh"

Did you have a nightmare too?" She asked looking up at him. He smiled back down at her, knowing she would be curious enough to ask about it.

"Yeah, it's nothing. You should get some rest." He said trying to push off the subject. Pidge understood, but she didn't move.

"I-is it alright if I stay here tonight? I don't wanna have any more nightmares." She said, looking almost ashamed. Shiro looked down at her, not hesitating for a second. He knew he had to step in and be the big brother figure, at least while Matt was away.

"Of course you can."

____________________________________________________________________________

Note: I am not shipping Shiro/Pidge. I see him as a big brother figure, and someone who wants to be there for Pidge while Matt is missing. Besides, there is an age gap that I am not comfortable with shipping. Sorry for any Shidge readers.  

____________________________________________________________________________

Keith watched Matt while he slept, envious of how he could just fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Keith knew that he and Matt had to get out here as soon as they could. He had had Matt in his squadron for only about two weeks, and he had progressed incredibly. After all, he was the only living being in his squadron, the rest were all Galran droid soldiers. He didn't admit it, but he enjoyed the company. He wasn't ever good at expressing his feelings, due to his life in the past, and he was even worse now. In fact, Matt would tease him all the time because of how stoned face and serious he was all the time. Matt was good to have around. At least he wasn't broken like he was.

Keith suddenly had made up his mind. He decided he had been here long enough. They were going to leave tonight, after all, they would run into less guards. It would be an easy escape, especially because he was a general. He didn't need an excuse.

He began to put together what little thing he had. Some supplies, spare parts for his arm, holographic computers, things like that. He then took all the info-drives out of the computer, which contained ship layouts, battle plans, etc. He opened a secret slot in his arm and put all the drives inside of it. They were all only about the size of half of his pinky, so they all fit in the slot easily. After he had put all of their stuff together, he went over to Matt and shook him gently.

"Matt. Matt wake up." he whispered. Matt continued to sleep.  _Wow, with all the time he had spent here, I would think he would wake up easily._  He shook him again, a bit harder this time.

"Matt, wake up." he said in a flat tone. Matt sat up groggily, blinking a few times.

"Huh? What. What is it?" He said, swinging his legs down to touch the floor, but not standing. He rubbed his eyes.

"We're leaving." Keith said without looking at him. He grabbed Matt's armor and handed it to him, gesturing for him to put it on.

"What?" he asked, slightly raising his voice.

"Shhh. Just act natural. Don't say anything, and just follow me. We'll take my cruiser. I know it's not as large as the ship, but it will have to do, because the large ship has trackers on it." Matt looked at him, shocked for a moment, before nodding. Keith began to walk toward the exit of his and Matt's quarters. It was a good thing all the droids on this battle station were under his command.

"Once on, I'm going to need you to disable our location and our communication with the empire, so that none of the Galra can find us. Can you do that?" Keith asked, looking back at Matt.

"Yes sir" Matt said in a soldier like voice.

"I told you not to call me sir unless we're in a meeting." Keith said, slightly scowling back up at Matt, who had grown a bit taller due to all his training. Keith didn't show it, but it bothered him that Matt was now a lot taller than him than he used to be. He pushed the hand-like symbol by the doors, opening it.

He walked at a purposeful pace, Matt following suite. They barely crossed the path of droid, and when they did, they stopped and hit their metal chests, and yelled out Vrepit Sa. Keith and Matt did it back, and then the droids continued on their path. Once Keith was close to his ship, he whispered for Matt to go inside and start disabling communications with the Galra. He stopped a nearby droid.

"Zarkon has requested me. While I am away, you are in charge." Keith said. The droid nodded.

"Vrepit Sa."

"Vrepit Sa." Keith said doing it back. He then turned and went inside the ship, and took of towards the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for posting so late! I forgot to post the last few chapters I have written on Wattpad to this site. If you would like to find me on Wattpad, my account name is kumohayashi.  
> Thank you for the reads and Kudos


	10. Rebelious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ;)

Keith steered through the seemingly endless void of space, lost in deep thought as I watched a small bit of rock pass the ship. He could hear Matt working on something somewear near the back of the ship, but he couldn't pick up exactly where he was. He gave a long sigh and pushed a small black button, turning on the auto-piolet. He got up, stumbling a bit due to how long he had been sitting at the piolets chair. 

Keith turned back to look at the endless valley of stars, still clingling to it's mysterious beauty. He wondered if his friends were looking for him. Or if they had already forgotten him. He shook his head, throwing the thoughts from his mind. He turned and walked down the small hallway to the right, heading to the back cabin of the ship. He stopped at the sheen black and grey door at the end. He slowly raised his left, prostetic hand, and gave a gently knock at the door.

"Mmm. Y-yeah? Come in." Came a call from the other side. It sounded a bit drowsy. Keith put his hand on the scanner by the door, causing it to slide open. Matt was sitting in the middle of the floor, resting on some piece of machinery. Matt sat up slightly as Keith stepped in the doorway.

"Oh, hey Keith. How're doin?" Matt asked, eyes half-closed. Keith was silent as he came in and sat down next to Matt. Matt smiled, used to the silence. Keith usually wasn't up to talking, especially if it was about him. Keith just enjoyed to listen Matt ramble, or, at least, that's what Matt thought, since he seemed pretty relaxed when he talked. Keith was a good listener, usually always listening to what Matt was saying, even if he didn't understand it.

"I'm fine. Did I wake you up?" Keith said, focusing in on a blinking light on his arm. Matt smiled.

"No, you're fine. I was just dozing off." Matt raised his arms and stretched, trying to shake the drowsiness from himself. "How close are we to Valsoron?" Matt asked getting up, Keith following. They both walked into the main control room.

"I'd say roughly around 10 Varga." Keith said flatly, staring at the holographic map on the main screen. He used his real hand to scroll around the screen and look at the surrondings around the ships course.  

"10...what?" Matt asked, blinking in confused. What the heck was a varga? Was it some sort of fancy word for a time?

"Sorry. That's altean. It means hours." Keith said looking back at Matt for a moment, then turning back to type something into the computer. "Oh, I see." Matt said, remembering that Keith had spent a while with aliens. Wait. How did Keith know that meant hour? "Did they speak english?" he asked out loud subconciously. He did that a lot, and Keith was used to answering a lot of random questions.  _Yep, Pidge and him are definatly related._

"Ofcourse they did. How else do think we communicated? Keith asked, giving a small chuckle.

"I don't know, I thought that maybe you guys had like, I don't know, some sort of translators. Y'know, so you could understand them, and they could understand you!" Matt said excitingly, as if he had just come up with a cure for a disease.

"Well, that's not a bad idea." Keith stated, knowing that Matt was plotting something. He didn't want to discourage the idea, even though they didn't really need translators.

"Why don't you get some rest? We won't be there for a while." Matt looked up and over to Keith, who's eyes were still on the screen. He gave a slightly pouty face. Really? He was asking him to sleep? Keith should be the one getting rest! Matt swore that he had never actually seen him sleep since they had reunited. Was there something that the Galra had done to him that made it hard to sleep? Was it because of his arm? Was he having nightmares?

Matt snuck as carefully as he could over to where Keith was standing, knowing very well that Keith could propbably hear every footstep. He finally got behind him and grabbed his sides, lifting him up. He gave a short cry of shock and confusion.

"Come on, little cat. You need sleep too!" Matt said holding Keith up. Keith squirmed and tried to break free, but Matt had gotten a lot stronger. Keith could actually easily break free, but Matt could tell that he was trying to be careful not to scratch or hurt Matt. In fact, Matt knew that could easily tear of his head if he wanted too, but he trusted Keith.

"Matt! What are you doing? Put me down!" Keith said, still squirming.

"No way! Not till you promise that you'll get some sleep!" Matt said, attemting to manuvere Keith's body onto his shoulder. Keith smirked and extended his fingers slightly on his left arm. Matt's eyes widened, but he didn't have enough time to put Keith down as his arm let out a weak jolt of electricty, shocking the two. Matt fell onto the floor and dropped Keith, who quickly rolled back onto his feet. Matt shook his head, still a bit dazed. He started to push himself off of the floor. He could see Keith smirking playfully out of the corner of his eyes.

"Oooh, so that's how you wanna play, huh? Well, let's see how you deal with this!" Matt said, quickly getting up and whipping out his bowstaff that had been on his back. Keith moved his mechanical arm up to block in at Matt swung it full force at Keith's head. Keith's grin grew wider. Matt knew that wasn't a good thing.

Keith used his right hand to grab one end of Matt's staff. He pulled down hard, causing Matt to flip onto the ground and almost lose hold of his staff. He quickly got up, swinging it at Keith rapidly, Keith blocking it at every turn. As Keith jumped to dodge a swing, Matt quickly swung his staff at Keith's feet, easily knocking him off balance. Keith fell to the floor.

Matt swung the staff and aimed it at Keith's face. He had placed his right foot on top of Keith's chest, preventing him from getting up again. They both had dark and angry expressions on their faces. Matt smirked.

"I win."He said. Keith smirked, and then they both broke into laughter. This was a game that they played almost everyday on the ship. They both enjoyed it, since it was great at relieving stress and pent up energy. It also was a great training excersice. To others, it would look like they were trying to kill each other, but they were just wrestling.

"I guess you do. What's your request, winner?" Keith said getting up and brushing himself off. Matt stared at him triumphantly

"You're getting some sleep, while I take the controls." Matt said, smirking at Keith. He knew that Keith wouldn't try to get out of this one, since Matt had won fair and square. Keith stood there, shocked for a moment, before raising his eyebrow in confusion.

"Really?" Keith said. Matt nodded. Keith groaned and squirmed uneasily. Matt noticed this.

"Keith. I won. And you know that you need it."

"I know" Keith said, lookind down. His ears were down too. He slowly started walking out of the room in defeat.

"Night!" Matt called as Keith exited the room.

________________________________________________________________________________

Keith walked back into the control room dazily, still a bit drowsy. Matt was right, he did feel a lot better, and he actually slept without nightmares for once. He staggered over to the chair next to Matt with a sigh, Matt let out a chuckle.

"Feeling better, sleepyhead?" Matt said, glancing at Keith before returning his gaze back to his screen in front of him. Keith made a slight nod and rubbed his eyes. "How close are we?"

"Actually, we only have a few minutes." Matt said happily, secretly relieved that the long ride was almost over, and that he could finally set his feet and solid ground for the first time in almost two years. He was excited to finally be off of a ship, to actually be out in the open. Sure, it wasn't Earth, like he had hoped, but it would do for now.

"I'll go get changed."Keith said, getting up. Matt nodded.

They approached the planets surface.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Woah! This place is amazing!" Matt said, practicaly dancing around the streets of the bustling city that they had walked to. They had parked their ship in a desert not too far away. They didn't want to frighten the citizens with a Galran ship, after all, they had just been freed. Keith could hear bustling talk of the giant lions that had saved them, talk of Voltron was everywhere. Keith stared through his full black face mask at the busy city, smiling. How he wished that he could just turn back the time.

They city almost looked like the sand city in a movie Keith had seen a long time ago. He couldn;t remember what is was called though, something to do with wars in the stars, or something like that. He and Matt turned into a local mechanical parts shop, where they would go and get spare supplies for Matt and his "science". Keith honestly wasn't concerned, he had taken all the money they had given him for his general purposes. They had a lot of it.

"Well hello there! How can I be of service to you two folks today?" Said a three foot, frog-like alien. He was a light brown, with six chubby arms and two stubby legs. He had four dark brown horns on his head and rock like scales scatter all over his body. A dinosaur-like tail trailed behind him. He was wearing a white appron with grease stains on it, and baggy blue pants. He wiped his hand on a nearby rag on the counter, and stepped out from behind it.

"We were just coming to see what kind of parts you have." Matt said in a polite tone. The manager smiled and gestured towards the sandstone shelfs.

"Certainly, have a look." The manager walked back to his counter. He picked up a small machine and began tinkering with it absentmindedly. Keith stared at him, waiting for Matt.

"So, what's up with the mask? You in trouble?" The manager said, not even looking up. Keith took a moment before realizing he was talking to him. After all, he and Matt were the only ones at the shop.

"Not exactly." Keith said, trying to avoid conversation. He didn't want to cause a panic because he was a Galra on a free planet.

"Hmm. Alright." The manager said, as if he heard Keith's silent plea. He looked up at Keith and his face turned to a look of amazement. Keith looked at him, confused as he stared making noises of awe.

"Sir, your arm is most impressive! Mind if I take a quick look?" He said, eyeing it eagerly. Keith hesitated. Should he let him look at it? Would it give him away. He decided that there was no harm in it.

"Sure, just as long as your not planning to take it." Keith said, holding his arm out. The manager leaped onto the counter and gently grabbed Keith's arm.

"Certainly not, that's not how I work." he said as he examined his arm. Keith stood akwardly, waiting for him to be done. The manager stopped and slowly looked up at him. "Come with me." he said in a more serious tone. Keith's breath caught in his throat, but he followed anyway, trying not to cause him suspicion.  He followed the manager to a back room of a shop.

"You're arm, it was made by the Galra, wasn't it." The manager said, grabbing a small screwdriver off of a shelf. Keith just stood in the doorway, ready to run. The manager turned and looked back at him.

"Well, come on in." he said, gesturing towards a chair next to a table. Keith slowly sat down. He eyed the alien suspicously behind his mask. The manager sat down on the table. 

"Arm please." he said, holding out one of his right arms. Keith didn't move.

"Why?" Keith said flatly. The manager looked up, confused.

"It's damaged, you probably want it fixed don't you?" he said. Keith slowly put his arm into the open hand of the short mechanic. He began doing his work. Keith watched him with pure shock. Why was he helping him?

"You're a Galra, I can smell it." The alien said, not even looking up from his work. Keith nodded. He used his other hand to push a button that removed the mask.

"What do you want from me?" Keith said, his voice full of spite. The manager shrugged.

"Nothing really. I assume you're on the run from your own kind, since you're wearing that mask and all. You against them?" Keith looked up at him in shock. He wasn't going to have him arrested? He was actually sympathetic? Why?

"They're not my kind. I'm only half Galran." Keith said, secretly relieved that the situation din't turn into a mess. The manager put the screwdriver down and closed a part of Keith's arm.

"Hmm. Interesting. You ever interested in fighting against them?" The manager asked, hoping of the desk.

"I used to fight against them, until they captured me. Why?" Keith stated, still slightly suspicous.

"Well, my group of rebel fighters could use some help. You in?" The manager asked, smiling.

Keith stared at him, before he made up his mind.

"Definatly."


	11. Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thinking :0

Lance pushed his controls forward, sending his lion speeding upward. A blue laser shot from the lion's mouth, sending a large wave of ice over the Galran war ship. The ship's engines sputtered as ice quickly overtook them. In a desperate attempt, the ship sent out only about 50 fighters, since the rest of the exits were covered in ice. Lance turned on his comms.

"You ready to blow this Popsicle stand?" he called out to the other end, his excitement and happy nature bursting into the speakers of the yellow paladin.

"Heck yea!" Hunk said, activating his lion's mouth cannon. The large blast poured out of yellow's mouth, destroying the entire fleet. The prisoner's from the ship, who were in an Altean escape pod piloted by Allura, cheered as the ships bursted into beautiful inferno. Allura, Lance, and Hunk all nodded to each other in approval and turned to head back to the castle.

They quickly returned to the castle, and put all the former Galran prisoners into healing pods. Lance gave a soft smile, of both relief and sadness. They all looked so relieved. He wondered if Keith had been miraculously rescued, or if he had escaped by himself. He hoped he did. If not...

"Hey Lance. Are the prisoners all ok?" Came a voice from behind him. It was Hunk, who had been his best friend since grade school. Lance gave a wide smile as Hunk walked over to his side.

"Yea. I think so. It looks like they'll all be healed up by tomorrow." Lance said, a prideful smile plastered on his face. Hunk smiled back at his friend. Lance's smile dimmed, and he turned to Hunk.

"Did the others get Lotor?" Lance asked, his expression turning angry. Lotor had appeared after they had put Zarkon at his death bed with a well-planned surprise attack, just three months since Keith disappeared.

"No." Hunk said.

"Any luck on finding Keith?" Lance asked, his voice hopeful and discouraged at the same time. It was going on 9 months now, and they still hadn't found anything on him. They did however find both Keith's and Matt's prisoner files, which was defiantly a huge step. Matt's had a lot of information, his recent transfers, his records from "the ring", and his status (alive). Keith's files however, had barely anything on them. It didn't even have a picture, just his name, and a few other things about him being a paladin.

"No. He wasn't on the ship." Hunk said sadly, tears forming in his eyes. "W-what if he's hurt? Or hungry? He's probably really hungry!!!" Hunk cried, grabbing Lance's shoulders harshly in panic. Lance jumped at the sudden force, but he wasn't hurt. He knew that Hunk didn't know his own strength. He smiled at his friends concern about Keith just being hungry.

"We gotta do something man! He's probably really cold, and hungry! We gotta find him!" Hunk said loudly, tears starting to pour out of his eyes.

"Relax big guy." Lance said, giving Hunk a friendly pat on the head. "This is Keith we're talking about. He probably escaped all by himself! I bet you he's just lost or something, I mean, he probably can't find the castle with the kind of navigators they have on those small Galra pods." Lance said, trying to reassure Hunk.

"Y-you think so?" Hunk asked, tears still present in his eyes.

"Yea, I'm positive. I mean, if anyone's going to know about how weak the pods are, it's you." Lance said putting one arm around Hunk's shoulder. Hunk smiled and wiped his eyes, letting out a light laugh. Lance was suddenly wrapped in a very strong pair of arms.

"Oooh Lance! You're the greatest!" Hunk said, lifting him high into the air, making Lance laugh.

"Yea, I know." Lance said with pride, his way of saying you're welcome. Hunk put him back onto the ground and released him from the hug.

"I'm gonna go get some food." Hunk said, walking out of the room joyfully. He hummed as he walked out. Lance's smile dropped for a moment.  _Was Keith really ok? Was he just lost, or was it worse than that?_ He decided that he wasn't going to think about it, at least not right now. He turned and ran after Hunk.

 

"Hey! Wait for me!"

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Keith fiddled with the shock control settings on his arms as he waited for any kind of radio connection. He and Matt had been doing this for about a week. They had been listening in on Galran communications, trying to get any important information. Keith would honestly be doing something else, but he was trying to stay on the rebel's good side. After all, most of them were still a bit wary of him being a former Galran general and all.

Borgro had made him a captain after he had beat every single one of the rebels in a testing match. Of course, Borgro was putting Keith here for his own good, but Keith would still rather be a fighter. Matt wanted to be too, but Matt wasn't going to be the first to complain, and Keith knew that. Keith glanced at the holographic clock on his desk.

"Good." He muttered as he got up out of his chair, putting on his cloak and pack. He pushed a button just behind his large, cat-like ear, activating his mask. Borgro had made both him and Matt masks when they joined the rebel alliance. Both of them were grey, but Keith's mask was different from Matt's. His had extensions that went over his ears, and the mask didn't cover his mouth.

 

Matt was already standing at the center of the room, ready to leave. Keith nodded at him and walked onto the circular platform on the floor. It clunked and creaked before slowly rising up towards the exit. Keith and Matt both put on their hoods, and Matt activated his full face mask (the same one he wears in season 4). They door above them slid open, and they were brought up into the desert storm above them. Keith adjusted the pack on his back, and they both walked forward, heading towards their cruisers.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Matt and Keith walked into the shop, covered in sand. Keith removed the fabric scarf that had been covering his mouth from the storm. Matt set his pack by the door and deactivated his mask. The shop had all of its tiny windows closed with metal sheets to keep the harsh sand from blowing inside. Keith pushed the button near the door, making a metal sheet slam over it.

"Mr. Borgro?" Matt called "Were back!"

"Oh good!" came a voice from the back room. Matt smiled and began to walk towards it, while Keith stayed, leaning against the doorframe. Suddenly, a small brown alien dashed past Matt's feet. He gave a small noise of surprise. The small brown shape leaped at Keith.

"Kioweth! Kioweth! You're back!" cried a smaller, child version of Borgro. She had jumped into Keith's arms, and, as always, Keith's quick reflexes caught her.

"You need to be more careful Chelsi" Keith said, deactivating his mask. Chelsi just laughed and put both of her hand of Keith's ears. Matt smiled and the heartwarming display before him. Chelsi, Borgro's niece, had liked Keith since the day they came to the shop. She always called him her "big bwother". She reminded him of Katie when she was little. Matt turned and walked into the back room.

"Did you bring back anything cool Kioweth? Chelsi asked as she made her way to the top of Keith's head. Even though she was only a foot and a half, she still weighed as much as a smaller boulder. This wasn't a problem to Keith though, due to his new-found Galran strength. Keith carefully nodded and pulled something from his backpack.

"Woah!" Chelsi said in childish wonder and awe at the pearly white skull Keith held in his hands. "What is it?" She asked, reaching with all six of her short arms for the skull.

"Be careful, it will break if you touch it too hard." Keith said, raising his hand up so that she could pick it up gently with her hands. Keith could feel her shift of his head.

"It's a Morgoral skull." Keith said, as Chelsi made another quiet noise of awe. A Morgoral was a desert animal of Valsoron that looked like a mix between a kangaroo and a bobcat. They usually lived for hundreds of years, so this find was rare.

"Kioreth? Could you come here for a second?" Borgro called from the back room. Keith made a short mhmm and lowered Chelsi down to the ground. She grabbed onto Keith's cloak and followed him into the room. Matt was sitting in a chair in the corner, working on one of his projects, which he stored in the shop for safety.

"Good news! I've decided to move you to the head of the task force!" Borgro called out, a big grin. Chelsi ran into the room, jumping onto her uncle's lap. She held up the skull for him to see. He made a noise of awe and looked up at Keith.

"You're joking." Keith said in his usual flat tone. He went and sat down in a chair next to the shop-keeper. Borgro smiled at Chelsi, who was blabbering gibberish. He then looked back at Keith and laughed.

"No Kioreth, I'm being serious. Captain Olia and the others have all agreed to let you be a part of the team." Borgro said, smiling at both him and Matt, who was smiling at Keith. Did Matt have anything to do with this? Borgro chuckled.

"After all, you did beat all of them in combat. You should've seen their faces afterwards!" Borgro said, his voice broken by hysterical laughter, "Absolutely priceless!" He was now laughing so hard that he was chocking, Chelsi laughing along with him, even she had absolutely no idea what was going on. After a moment of Matt and Keith helping Borgro calm down, he stopped laughing.

"So! What'dya say? You in? I've already got a willing crew waiting for ya." Borgro asked, eyes shining with excitement. Keith suddenly realized this wasn't just some lame joke, after all, Borgro loved to pull jokes all the time. Keith's eyes started to fill with tears of joy. He quickly tried to hide it by putting his mask back on. Matt smiled at him knowingly.

"Really?" Keith said, sniffing. Matt's smile grew wider. He was glad he went to go talk to the crew, he knew that they would at least listen to him. He had seen how Keith had tried to become a fighter, even if he wasn't striving for a captain.

"Yea." Matt said, nodding at Borgro. Borgro smiled and nodded at Keith.

"Alright captain, let's get you all set up." Borgro said.


	12. Notes Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Notes. Sorry!

Hey everyone! Thank you for all the support you have given me. Kudos to all!  
I just wanted to note a few things about the story.  
A. Team Voltron has been fighting Lotor for a while, and they have joined with the blade of Malmora. However, they have not quite yet joined up with the rebel alliance.  
B. I had a friend asked me a few questions, so I have decided to show how to pronounce some of the words. (Just in case)  
-Keith's fake name Kioreth (Key-or-reth)  
-The planet Valsoron (Val-sor-on)  
That's about it I think... If you have any questions about the story just ask.  
Also, the picture was a picture I drew for the purpose of this story, since I'm bad at describing things.


	13. Meetings and Bargains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Voltron meets with the blade and the rebels.

It had been exactly 10 months. Ten months since the red paladin had disappeared. Ten months, and still no sign of his brother.

Shiro had been taunted by nightmares endlessly, night after night. Gory scenes had played through his mind in graphic detail. He was starting to get dark circles under his eyes, and he was a lot more tense than usual. Everyone could tell. It showed especially when they were battling the Galra. Shiro was much more aware, but that still didn't mean that the lack of sleep attacked him the middle of battle.

Shiro sat in his chair in the main control room, along with all the other paladins. He and the others were discussing plans. Some for the coalition, some for battle, some for finding the two missing friends. Coran watched them from his place in front of the screen.

Shiro also felt bad for all of the paladins too. It had effected everyone.

Lance was less peppy.

Pidge was always looking at her computer scanners.

Hunk was trying to cheer everyone else up with his amazing cooking.

Allura was struggling to stay happy.

Even Coran's invincible spirit was lowering.

Suddenly, a light on the map lit up, making a loud beeping noise, causing everyone in the room to look up. Coran tapped the blinking planet with one of his fingers.

"Hmm. Looks like the blade just sent us a message." Coran said in his usual exciting voice.

"What's it say?" Lance asked, leaning forward in his chair. Pidge looked up from her screen, Hunk jumped from being half asleep, Shiro looked up, and Allura raised an eyebrow.

"It says they would like to meet us on Valsoron. Apparently, they have a very important thing to discuss. Something about an alliance that would like to aid Voltron!" Coran said, his voice growing loud with excitement and a big smile coming to his face.

"That's wonderful!" Allura said, clapping his hands together. Shiro and the other paladins smiled.

"Wait. Why wouldn't they just contact us over video?" Pidge asked, putting her computer aside. Hunk looked back at her and nodded.

"Yea. Wouldn't that be easier?" Hunk asked Coran, who put a hand up gracefully to stroke his mustache.

"Well, they did say it was important. After all, we wouldn't want important information possibly be listened in by the Galra." Coran said, holding a finger up.

"Good point." Said Pidge in return.

"So are we going to Valsoron?" Lance asked, a huge smile on his face, clearly excited to be doing things other than planning.

 

"I believe so" Allura said, stepping on her podium and moving the ship forward and opening a worm-hole to Valsoron.

_____________________________________________

 

Keith sat patiently as Borgro put the last screw on his arm into place. Borgro was whistling, the same strange tune he always whistled. Borgro's species were all really good at whistling. It was almost as if they were singing. The beautiful sound reminded Keith of his mother...

"There ya go. All fixed up. How'd you bust it up anyhow?" Borgro asked, carefully lifting his arm, looking for any more damage. Keith blushed and lowered his ears. Borgro smiled up at him, acting like he didn't understand Keith's embarrassment.

"I may have accidentally rammed into a cliff..." Keith averted his eyes. He felt bad. Borgro already had helped him so much, even when Keith insisted that he not. Keith had never understood how people could be so kind. It was probably because he was never treated well by anyone in his childhood, well, until Shiro.

Keith wondered how all of them were doing. He knew they were alive, at least, but he wondered if any of them actually missed him. They probably didn't. After all, why would they just leave him stranded on a prison ship for 8 months if they really cared?

"Heh, well, alright. I guess it couldn't've been helped." Borgro said with a light-hearted chuckle, standing up. Keith's eyes followed him as he walked to the door.

"Anyways, we should-"

Matt suddenly burst into the room. He had a shared look of both calm and panic on his face, and his expression was semi-amusing to Keith. Resisting laughter, Keith stood up.

"What's up?" Keith asked, his amusement disappearing as soon as he saw that his face was serious. He put his hand in battle-ready position.

"These weird guys, in purple masks...they said they're here for Borgro." Matt said, shooting a worried glance over to Borgro. Borgro continued to smile, not even phased by the news. Keith put on his mask. A laugh stopped both Keith and Matt from proceeding out of the door.

"It's alright boys." Borgro said, whipping his six chubby hands on his apron. "I was expecting them, as well as others. Just keep your masks on and weapons ready, and follow close behind me."

 

Keith and Matt exchanged confused looks before putting their masks and following Borgro.

 

The black lion's feet made a graceful thud as it landed on the dusty, desert-like surface of Valsoron. He watched as all the other lions landed close behind him, and stepped out of Black's mouth. He looked around. The planet reminded him of the desert next to the Garrison that his brother loved so much.

The paladins quickly got on their cruisers and sped toward the small village, where the blade had asked them to meet up. They had been here before. Shiro fondly remembered saving the planet from Galra rein. He just wished Keith had been there to see it. The cruisers quickly met the border of the small desert village; Shiro got off of his cruiser.

"Pidge. Do you have a location on where the Blade is?" Shiro asked the smaller paladin. She pulled up a holographic map of the village from her wrist.

"Yea. It's actually really close. It's in one of the shops." Pidge said, observing the map. Lance leaned in to look at it as well. He frowned.

"Didn't they say this stuff was important? I mean, why would we be discussing important stuff in the middle of a store?" Lance asked, putting a hand on his hip. Hunk looked down at Pidge's map and nodded in agreement.

"I don't know, but stay on your toes. This might be a trap." Shiro said, remembering that they did send them a message, instead of just calling them over video.

The paladins approached the door of the shop, which was shut up by a metal screen. They all stared at it, confused. Hunk let out a sigh of defeat, and Pidge looked back and forth between her map and the door.

"Maybe we should come back later?" Lance said sarcastically, turning around. Shiro grabbed the collar of his armor and pulled him back.

"Pidge, are you sure we're in the right place?" Shiro asked, looking down at her while putting Lance back up on his feet.

"Yea. This is the exact location they sent us. Unless-"

The door opened, unleashing a strong blast of air with it. They all braced themselves, trying to stay upright. Pidge was pushed over, but Hunk, who was standing behind her, managed to catch her. The gust disappeared as soon came, and all of the paladin looked up.

"Welcome." Kolivan said, inviting them inside. They all exchanged relieved glances before stepping inside the small, and now crowded shop. It had many shelfs, strewn with various pieces of machinery and scrap metal. Shiro looked around in curiosity before his eyes landed on unfamiliar face in front of them.

Standing (and sitting) next to the blade were three biengs. One of them was a small brown alien, the same kind that populated the planet. He looked like he owned the shop. The other two were much taller, but they were both shorter than Shiro. The one standing on the left of the alien was wearing a brown cloak and a metal mask that covered his entire face. He was holding a metal staff and his mask had orange lights on it. He was just a bit taller than the one on the right.

The one on the right had a brown cloak on as well, but his mask only covered the top half of his face. The skin that Shiro could see that his skin was purple, similar to a Galras. He was wearing metal gauntlets on both of his hands, and his mask had cat ear-like extentions on the top. Shiro swore that he could feel an ice cold stare through the mask.

"Welcome Paladins. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I am Borgro." Said the small brown alien. He smiled and held out four of his arms for all of the paladins to shake. Shiro, Hunk, Lance, and Pidge shook it politely. Borgro smiled and leaned back into the stone chair he was sitting on. Shiro looked up at the two strangers, who didn't even budge.

"So...who're they?" Lance asked bluntly, earning a light glare and an elbow to the side from Shiro.

"Ah, apologies." Borgro said, putting his hands together. The two behind him remained still, as if they were made of stone themselves.

"This is rebel Captain Kioreth, leader of the rebel actionmen." Borgro said, gesturing with one of his right hands to the one on the right. The paladins stared at him suspiciously. Shiro stuck out his right hand, offering to shake hands. He swore that he could feel the captain's glare shift down to his hand, but 'Kioreth' remained still.

Finally, Kioreth stuck out his left hand, and stiffly shook Shiro's. Shiro smiled, as if silently saying 'it's nice to meet you'. Kioreth then moved back to his stiff, cross-armed position behind Borgro. Borgro smiled and then gestured to the one on the left.

"This is the captain's second, Lieutenant M." Said Borgro. The paladins all looked a little confused at just "M". Nevertheless, Shiro stuck out his hand. Lieutenant M shook it without hesitation, but stopped for a moment before returning next to Kioreth. It was if he was staring at Pidge...

"So" Shiro said, turning to Kolivan (am I right?), "What's this all about?" Kolivan looked down at Shiro, and then back at Borgro.

"They, and the rebel alliance, would like to join coalition." Kolivan said sternly, staring suspiciously at the smiling shopkeeper and the two masked rebels. The paladin's faces brightened.

"That's great to hear!" Said Hunk, smiling at Borgro, who smiled back. Lance stared suspiciously at the two masked men behind him. Shiro was about to ask them details, but was cut up by Borgro's raised hand.

"But, we would first like to see if your force is really worth fighting with." Borgro said, eyes narrowing with an ever present business-like smile. He tapped one of his fingers on the stone chair. Shiro looked at him, confused and a little offended. The blade reached for their weapons.

"Oh no. Not here. We have a practice arena for the fighters to train in. I want you paladins to pick two of your best fighter to fight against our best fighter. Since you paladins of Voltron are the head of this organization, I don't wanna see any of you Blades as fighters. " Borgro said, smile growing bigger. Shiro and the others glared at him.

"And why would we would we do that? Don't you guys wanna help save the universe?" Lance asked, his voice rising slightly in defense and anger. Shiro put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from activating his Bayard.

"We'll do it." Shiro said bluntly, giving Borgro another glare. Borgro smiled and rested his head in one of his hands.

"Pleasure doing business with ya. Meet here early with two fighters tomorrow." Borgro said, hopping out of his chair and disapearring into the back of the shop. The four blades turned and walked out of the door. Shiro and the others stayed put, staring at the two masked rebels.

"So...the masks there for a reason?" Lance asked suspiciously. The two both looked at each other before turning back to Lance. Lieutenant M spoke first.

"Precautions. I never caught any of your names anyway." He said, trying to turn away from the whole mask subject. Lance perked up at the oppertunity to introduce himself.

"I'm Lance, mighty blue paladin of Voltron!" He exclaimed proudly, striking a confident pose and activating his Bayard. "Pleasure to meet you." He said. Lieutenant M nodded.

"I'm Hunk, the yellow paladin. Nice to meet you!" Hunk said offering his hand. M shook it politly.

"I'm Shiro. I piolet the Black lion." Shiro said, smiling. M stopped dead in his tracks.

"I'm Pidge, paladin of the green lion." Pidge said offering his hand. M froze completely and looked at her. Pidge raised an eyebrow.

"Shiro? Pidge?" He said, his voice sounding a bit shaky. Pidge looked at Shiro and nodded at him. M stopped right in front of Pidge.

Suddenly, his mask dissolved, revealing his light brown hair and eyes. Pidge let out a small gasp.

"Is that-?" Lance asked quietly.

"Matt?" Pidge's voice shuddered, barely above a whisper. Matt smiled down at her. 

"Matt!"Pidge quickly jumped into him tears in her eyes. Matt wrapped his arms around her and brought her into a deep hug. Shiro and the others smiled. Shiro wished he could do the same to Keith. See him safe, wrap him in the biggest hug, and never let him go. He would never break his promise he made to his brother ever again. He looked at the stranger in back, to find him staring directly at him. He couldn't feel that ice-cold glare that he felt before. Kioreth noticed that he had noticed him staring at him, and he turned and walked away.

Shiro raised his eyebrows in concern and slowly followed him. Kioreth stopped at a back corner and sat in a chair. Shiro noticed that he seemed to be staring down at his arm.

"Hey-"  


	14. Sweet Reunion

"Hey" Shiro said. Keith slowly lifted his head to look at him, his brother. He felt torn. He was glad that Shiro was still alive, and that nothing bad had happened to him, but he was a little upset. Upset, because, if Shiro was alive, than why didn't he come to save him? Did he really not matter that much to him? Is that why Shiro kept disappearing? Oh well, Keith thought. He probably had some good reason.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I introduced myself." Shiro said, giving one of his classic smiles and outstretching his right hand. Keith looked down at it, not moving a muscle. He finally put out his left hand and shook it.

"Kioreth" he said, his voice a little bit deeper due to his voice disguiser on his mask.

"Shiro. Black paladin of Voltron" Keith nodded, already full aware of what his name and status was. Shiro smiled again. Keith glared suspiciously through his mask, eyeing Shiro with tired yellow eyes.

"So, do you know anything about this person that I'm fighting tomorrow? Or is that classified? If you don't mind me asking." Shiro asked, trying to pry Keith for any advice for tomorrow. Shiro swore he could feel an eerie glare from behind the mask, making him shiver, and almost regret asking in the first place. Keith let of a small breath of air, pulling his hood forward a bit.

"Classified." He said flatly, rubbing his left arm. It had no feeling in it anymore, but it was a nervous habit. He didn't want to be talking to Shiro. It made him nervous. Nervous that Shiro would find out who he is, fear of rejection, fear of losing his family because of who he was...

"Shiro!" Came a call from not too far away. It was Matt, with Pidge and the others falling close behind him.

"Oh hey Matt." Shiro wrapped him in a quick, friendly hug. Matt looked at Kioreth and snickered. The others stared in confusion.

"I see you've made your acquaintance with Kioreth. Did he talk, or have you two been sitting here in silence the whole time?" Matt said, giggling. Keith glared at him harshly. The others looked back and forth between the two, still confused.

"He...talked. Why?" Shiro asked Matt, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh nothing." Matt said, walking over and sitting next to Keith, wrapping an arm around his neck. Keith made a small noise of surprise and glared even harder up at him, growling slightly.

"Kioreth here is just usually silent. I'm lucky if I can even get a full sentence out him." Matt said, ruffling Keith's hood. Keith squirmed slightly before giving up and embracing the torture. The other paladins all tensed up, preparing for the possibility of Matt being stabbed by the angry captain. Matt just laughed, releasing Keith from his chokehold.

Keith growled and jumped up, knife already in hand. Matt smirked and reached for his staff. The others all jumped back in surprise, Shiro preparing to step in to stop the fight.

Suddenly, before Shiro or any of the other paladins could move, Matt pounced toward Keith, staff raised high above his head. He swung down with great force, narrowly missing a shelf. Keith had already dodged it, and was swinging his knife at Matt's unguarded side. Pidge and Lance activated their bayards. Shiro was making his way over to quickly try to break up what they all thought was a real fight.

"Hey! Wait just a-"An elbow knocked him smack in the middle of his helmetless face. Matt and Keith stopped for a brief moment.

"You ok Shiro?" Matt asked. Shiro let out a groan. Hunk was already by his side, hands waving in panic before helping him up. Matt gave a concerned look at the blood dripping from his nose, but quickly moved his head as a knife was swung a few inches from his face. Matt jumped back a few feet and glared.

"Hey! No fair!" he said, yelling at Keith. Who was smirking slightly, twirling his knife in his hand mockingly. Matt made a quick move to swing at his legs, sliding across the sandy floor. But Keith jumped up, harshly landing on Matt's back. He held his knife a few inches from his throat, and both were panting harshly.

"Matt!" Pidge cried, getting her bayard ready to attack. Lance already had his gun pointed at Keith's head. Shiro put a hand out, preventing her from moving. He knew that moving could possibly get Matt killed, after all, this Kioreth looked and felt like someone who shouldn't be messed with. So why did he and Matt attack each other? Weren't they friends? Or at least Co-workers?

"You know," Kioreth started, moving his knife closer to Matt's throat, "that trick doesn't work very well if you use it all the time." Keith's voice was flat, even a little annoyed. The paladin's faces all lifted in surprise as Matt let out a laugh. Kioreth stood up and got off of him with a growl, putting out a hand to help him up. Matt accepted and patted Keith on the back.

"Heh, I guess you win this time." Matt said, putting his staff away. Keith nodded and put his knife back into its sheath. Pidge looked at them, extremely confused. t Didn't they just tried to kill each other? But now they were just acting like friends? What the heck was going on?

"Uh, what was that? Why did you two just try to KILL each other?!?" Lance asked, clearly the most confused out of everyone. Matt and Keith both looked at him, then back at each other. Matt laughed and put a hand on the back of his head.

"Sorry. We probably scared you guys. That was just a little training game me and Kioreth like to play. It's a good exercise, and prepares us for real battle." Matt said, clearly not even phased that Keith was just holding a knife up to his throat a few seconds ago.

"Boys! How many times do I have to tell you? No fighting in the shop!" Came Borgro's rarely angry voice from the back room. Keith and Matt winced.

"Sorry Borgro!" Matt called. Shiro laughed a little at Matt and Keith's sudden sheepishness.

"Hey Matt. What do you say you and Kioreth come back to the castle with us? I could give you a tour! Pidge exclaimed, clearly wanting to show Matt what she had been doing while he was gone. Hunk nodded excitedly.

 

"Sure." Matt said, looking back at Keith. Matt could tell he was hesitating, but he gave him an encouraging smile. Keith nodded and followed them to the cruisers.

 

Keith sat uncomfortably in the living room, not listening to Lance's constant chatter about the adventures of Voltron. Heck, Keith already knew about them. Pidge had pulled Matt along with her and Shiro to give him a tour, which Keith had politely turned down. Hunk was in the kitchen with Allura and Coran, making them milkshakes. Keith was surprised that they still had Kaltenecker.

"Yea, it's so great here. So what do you do Kioreth?" Came Lance's voice, knocking Keith back into reality. Keith looked at Lance's face, and stared for a little bit. He never noticed how neat and clean his skin looked.

"Um, I'm a rebel actionmen captain. Which means I basically fight on the front lines and take care of the tough missions. Matt's my second in command. Borgro mentioned it earlier..." Keith said, clearly a bit annoyed that Lance didn't remember Borgro's introduction. Lance's eyes sparkled with a sudden admiration.

"Woah really? You mean like you fight and stuff? That's so cool! You kind of remind me of Keith..." Lance said, trailing of a bit at the mention of his name. Keith stared at him, confused and a bit shocked. Lance shook his head and looked back at him, noticing how his mouth had drawn into a thin, confused looking line.

"Oh wait! You probably don't even know who that is! Sorry, he's the red paladin, or was. He... he was captured a while ago. We haven't been able to find him ever since." Lance said, his voice full of sadness. Keith was deeply shocked. They couldn't find him? Is that why they didn't come and save him? Was it because Zarkon hid him? Guilt suddenly flooded through his body. All this time, he was angry at them, but now he regretted it.

"Hey. Why're you wearing a mask? Is there something wrong with your face or something? Lance said, trying to reach for it. Keith drew back, suddenly alarmed.

"What are you doing?" He shouted, putting his arm up in defense. Lance gave a confused look and put his hand down.

"I wanna touch it. Can I?" Lance asked, trying to be polite. Keith glared at him and crossed his arms.

"No." He said flatly. He didn't want anyone of his family to see him like this. Lance's smile turned to a pout. He raised his hands in defeat.

"Fine, fine. If you don't want me to touch it, it's cool. So, what's under it? You got like three eyes or something? Burn scars?" Lance offered, trying to get Keith to take of his mask.

 

"I don't wanna talk about it." Keith said, getting up and walking away. Lance's face twisted in confusion. Was it something he said?

                                   -----Break-----

 

"So wait, you fought in the ring?" Pidge asked Matt, who nodded. They were both sitting on her bed after their long tour of the castle and the city around it. Shiro had gone to find the others, so Matt and Pidge had decided to catch up together.

"Yeah, I fought in there for a long time. I almost died." Matt said, and Pidge looked at him. Concern was written all over her face. What if he never made it? She quickly hugged him. Matt's face twisted in surprise, then he looked down at her softly.

"I'm glad you're ok." She said quietly. Matt smiled and ruffled her hair. Pidge smiled and looked up at him.

"So, this Kioreth guy, why do you hang around him anyway? I mean, I know he's your general, but he's so... weird, and creepy. He scares me." Pidge said, rubbing her arms. Matt smiled and laughed.

"Really? Kioreth?" He said, surprised. Pidge nodded sheepishly.

"He's just quiet. He's had a tough run y'know. Besides, I kinda owe it to him." Matt said, looking down at his staff. Pidge looked at him, confused.

"Why?" She asked clearly wondered what Matt could owe to the ominous Kioreth.

"He saved my life, Pidge. If it weren't for him, I'd be dead. And I wouldn't have been able to see you again." He said, pushing her bangs out of her face. She stared up at him in shock before looking down in guilt. She scooted closer to him and put her head on his shoulder. He eyes felt heavy.

"I-I'm sorry. He just...reminds me of Keith. I miss him." Pidge said, looking down at her hands. Matt smiled and put his arm around her.

"Hey, Don't worry. I miss him too. But, you know, I'm sure Keith is fine." Matt said. Pidge smiled and wiped oncoming tears of her face. Matt got up, avoiding the piles of machinery on her floor. He grabbed her blanket.

"Get some sleep, you need it." Matt said. Pidge nodded, but didn't lay down. Matt tilted his head.

"C-can you sleep here tonight?" She asked, looking down. Matt smiled and nodded.

"Sure."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! I have been writing the chapters, but, just so everyone who reads this knows, it will always go on Wattpad first. To be honest, I've kind of forgotten that I needed to update it on this site. My username is kumohayashi, and the story has the same title. Just thought that I'd give you all a heads up!


	15. Red and Purple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)

"So then. It's decided." Shiro said, looking around the room at all the other paladins. The night had passed, and it was now morning, the day that Voltron had to prove themselves worthy to the rebel forces.

"I will be going in as the main fighter. And Lance, you're going in as the second. Are you sure you can't fight with us Matt?" Shiro said, turning to the rebel Lieutenant. Matt shook his head.

"It's against the rules, and it's considered betrayal until you're officially on our side." Matt said, looking a bit disappointed that he couldn't help Shiro. Shiro sighed and nodded.

"Uh, where'd Kioreth go?" Hunk asked politely, looking around the room. The other paladins looked around, but the mysterious captain wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Oh, Borgro wanted him back at the shop. He left last night." Matt said, remembering that Keith had told him about it the previous night, before he went into Pidge's room. Matt had insisted he stayed, but he knew that Keith wouldn't usually disobey orders, unless he felt it was right to.

Shiro frowned at the news. He had really wanted to talk more to Kioreth. Something about him just felt, like he knew him somehow. He did look Galran, maybe he was on the ship while he was a prisoner. Then why wasn't he with the blade? Shiro didn't know the answers, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to find out who he is.

 

"Well, should we get going? We wouldn't wanna miss the fight." Lance said, striking a pose and putting his Bayard on his shoulder. Everyone nodded.

 

"Wow. There sure is quite a crowd here." Coran said, observing the large group of rebels and citizens crowded around the ring. They all turned heads as they walked by, observing the heroes. This made some of them a little uncomfortable, but some, like Lance, was loving the attention. He had a classic Lance smile on his face as he walked past the crowd. They all made their way toward the entrance of the ring. Borgro saw them and smiled.

"Paladins! Great to see ya, but y'know, ya can only have two fighters." Borgro said, raising an eyebrow, a smile still plastered to his face.

"Oh yes of course. We Alteans just wanted to meet you, sir." Allura said, bowing politely. Borgro laughed and waved it off.

"Oh please. No need for formality. Borgro." He said, offering two of his hands.

"Coran." The advisor said, shaking one.

"Allura. Princess of Altea." Allura said, shaking the other.

"Pleasure to meet cha. If you'll just find a place to watch, we can get the show on the road." Borgro said, politely gesturing to the area around the arena. The other paladins, with Matt, went to go find a seat. Shiro and Lance stayed.

"Now, which one of ya is fighting first?" Borgro said, picking up a thick metal rod of the ground. Shiro stepped forward.

"That would be me." Shiro said, smiling a bit, but keeping his stance firm. Borgro smiled up at him, narrowing his eyes.

"Great. Here, take this. If you don't want to use it, you can just drop it on your way in." Borgro said, handing Shiro the thick metal rod. It was about as long as his arm, and it looked well-used. Shiro examined it with a confused look.

"Uh, thanks." He said. Borgro smiled and nodded.

"Now. Both of ya listen up, cause I'm not gonna repeat myself. We only have a few rules here, but if you break 'em, you'll be killed." Borgro said, his smile fading.

"WHAT?!?" Lance cried.

"Now, now, just listen." Borgro said, waving his hands, his smile returning. "Rule number one, no killing your opponent." Shiro and Lance nodded.

"Rule number two, as soon as you or your opponent is held by the other to the ground for more than fifteen seconds, you lose, game over. But, usually, the battle will end when you knock your opponent to the ground and hold your weapon to their throats." Borgro said, sternly looking at Shiro and Lance. They both nodded.

"Rule number three. No chickens. We don't wanna see it. If y'all are too scared to fight, then ya loose." Borgro said. Lance frowned, almost blurting out a comeback, but decided against it. After all, they were trying to make a good impression.

"Ya two got it?" Borgro asked, smiling. Shiro and Lance both nodded.

"Aight. If you wanna call in blue here, just raise your weapon high. We'll send him in." Borgro said to Shiro, patting Lance on the leg, since Lance's shoulder was too high for him to reach. Shiro nodded and smiled, slightly amused at Lance's confused face. Borgro nodded and held up two of his fingers. Suddenly, a loud voice came over the crowd, quieting everyone.

"Welcome, One and all! Get ready for the greatest fight you will ever see!" The loud voice called. The crowd cheered loudly, some jumping to a standing position and raising their fists high.

"On our guest side, we have the black paladin of Voltron, defenders of the universe!" The crowd cheered loudly, raising their fists high. Shiro stepped out into the ring, metal rod in his right hand. If he needed to, he would drop it and use his prosthetic.

"And on the fighter side, we have the rookie captain, champion of the ring!" The loud voice announced. The crowd was ecstatic, cheering loudly. They began chanting loudly and stopping their feet. Shiro couldn't make out what they were saying, but he could tell that this fighter obviously had fans. The gates opposite of Shiro opened, revealing his opponent. Standing only a few feet away, was a very familiar face.

"Kioreth?!?" Came a call from the paladins, not audible to Shiro over the screaming crowd. Matt smiled.

Shiro ducked down to a fighting stance holding his staff out in front of him. Kioreth walked out onto the metal floor of the arena, removing the cloak that covered his body. He was wearing armor very similar to Matt's, but it was darker grey, and had dark red coloring instead of orange. He was wearing black pants instead of grey ones. Shiro noticed that he didn't have a weapon of any kind. Just metal gauntlets.

Shiro held the metal rod defensively, prepared for any attack. He had seen him fight before with Matt, and though it was brief, he could tell Kioreth was good. He was extremely glad that he didn't have to kill him, like he would've have to have done in the Galra ring. Kioreth didn't move, he just clenched his metal fists. Shiro took this as an invitation.

He dashed forward quickly, swiftly swinging the metal rod up at Kioreth's face. Kioreth dodged it with ease, and the rod struck the metal floor. Jumping onto the rod, Kioreth flipped himself into the air, over Shiro. He got into a fighting stance, and a slightly dazed Shiro quickly fell into a stance as well.

The two both moved quickly, metal hands clashing with metal rod. (Keith's wearing metal armor on his right hand.) Shiro grunted and attempted to push Kioreth over. Kioreth, not even breaking a sweat, pushed back at him, scooting Shiro slowly backwards. Shiro pushed harder. Suddenly, Kioreth's hand began to glow a brilliant red, not much different from Shiro's. Shiro's eyes widened as Kioreth's hand sparked to life, electrocuting both of them. Shiro was knocked back, shocked.

He understood why Kioreth didn't have a weapon. This whole arena gave him a weapon.

Metal.

Shiro realized he would have to fight with strategy if he was going to win. If Kioreth could channel electricity with his gauntlets, then this whole arena wasn't safe for him. He groaned as he slowly got up.

The crowd was cheering loudly, clearly in Kioreth's favor. Kioreth didn't move though. He just watched Shiro get up slowly.

Shiro grunted, getting up. He suddenly brought his hand to life, running at Kioreth at inhuman speed. He swung it swiftly at the side of Kioreth's face, aiming for the mask. But was stopped dead in his tracks as Kioreth brought up his left hand, and caught his right. Shiro stood still, completely shocked. He swore he could feel Kioreth's icy glare burning through his mask, sending chills up his body.

\----------

"What? He caught it. How?" Pidge cried over the crowd to her friends. The others stared grimly down at the fight, shocked as well. It was not looking good for the black paladin.

\-----------

Metal clashed upon metal, making loud clanging noises. Shiro was quickly attempting to knock Kioreth off balance with the staff, but it clearly wasn't working. Kioreth dodged and blocked the blows with ease, occasionally striking back with a swipe of his clawed metal hands. The crowd cheered loudly. Suddenly Kioreth ducked down and swung one his legs under Shiro, knocking him down. He pulled Shiro's staff from his hands and jumped to the other side of the arena. He held the staff in front of him, similar to holding a sword.

Shiro slowly got up, panting harshly. He was running out of energy, he needed to end this. He got up shakily on his feet. Suddenly, Kioreth threw his staff, charged with red electricity, directly at his chest. Shiro's eyes went wide as the staff made contact, knocking him back to the ground. Something suddenly clicked.

That throw. This fighting style. It can't be...

Kioreth was fighting exactly like his missing younger brother, Keith. But, he couldn't be him, could he?

Shiro looked up tiredly as Kioreth slowly approached him. Shiro shakily got up on his elbows. If he was Keith, there was only one way he could beat him.

Shiro suddenly fell back onto the ground. The crowd went dead silent, in both anticipation and shock. The paladins all tensed. Lance quickly gripped the bars of the gate. He had been waiting the whole time anxiously for a signal, and was severely worried. Shiro had been under the weather ever since Keith had disappeared. And he knew he would be too if he had lost one of his younger siblings. He was worried that Shiro might have pushed himself too far. Kioreth stopped dead in his tracks, staring down at the unmoving paladin. He slowly approached him, bending down cautiously to pick up the staff lying only five feet away from Shiro's still form.

Kioreth slowly got up, staff in hand. He slowly made his was over to Shiro, standing only inches away from his still body. He slowly bent down into a crouching position. He gently poked Shiro with the staff. No movement. Kioreth hesitated before taking of the metal armor on his hand, revealing a black gloved hand. He began to reach to feel for a pulse.

Suddenly, Shiro's leg shot up, and slammed into Kioreth's chest. Kioreth was flung onto his back. Shiro quickly got up and held his glowing purple hand to Kioreth's neck. Kioreth was too shocked to even move. Shiro smirked. He knew that would work, especially on Keith. To fake dead always works on someone who is kind, even if they don't show it on the outside.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!" came the cry of the loud speaker. The crowd, and team Voltron let out a cheer. Kioreth was still on the ground shocked. Shiro got up and offered his hand to Kioreth. He looked at it cautiously before accepting it. Shiro pulled him up and raised both their hands into the air.

Shiro and Kioreth walked out of the ring, and was greeted by the crowd, led by team Voltron. Lance and the others all hugged Shiro at once, giving him congrats and worries all jumbled together. They slowly disappeared as the crowd wrapped around them. Keith put his hood back on and began walking away. Suddenly, a hand landed on his shoulder. He whipped around to see Matt, smiling softly at him.

"Hey, you did good Keith." Matt said, giving him a brother-like smile. Keith gave a small smile in return.

"Thanks Matt." Keith said quietly, and Matt wrapped his arm around Keith's shoulder. Keith tensed up and looked at him.

"Aren't you gonna come back with us?" Matt asked, smiling. Keith frowned and looked down at the ground. Matt looked at him, confused.

"N-no. I have work to do." Keith said quietly. Matt knew what was really going on. Keith was afraid of going back. He was afraid of his friends finding out that he was Galra. Matt gave a soft smile.

"Come on, just come with me. It'll be alright, ok?" Matt said, trying to encourage him.

"I-I'd rather not—"

"Hey! Kioreth! Matt!" Came a call from Lance, followed by the others. Keith internally panicked and tried to break free from Matt's hold, but to no avail. Matt wasn't giving up so easily.

"Hey guys" Matt called, arm still around Keith. He began walking towards them, forcing Keith to follow.

"Why don't you two come join us at the castle?" Allura said, smiling at putting her hands together. The others nodded, and Shiro turned his attention to Kioreth. He squirmed uncomfortably under Matt's hold. Matt smiled.

"Ya why not? That'd be fun. What'dya say Kioreth?" Matt said, pulling Kioreth closer. Kioreth groaned and tried to push away.

"Get off." He said flatly, with just a tad bit of annoyance. Matt chuckled. The other paladins looked at Matt like he was crazy. He's going to get himself killed, they all thought in unison.

"So, you coming Kioreth?" Hunk asked, smiling widely. Keith crossed his arms and looked over at Matt. Matt eyed him with the, 'you better say yes or you're in trouble look'. Keith flinched and mentally groaned back at him. He sighed.

"Sure." He said in defeat. They all smiled and cheered.


	16. Brothers

 

"Come on Kioreth, it'll be fun." Matt said, nudging Keith in the side. Keith glared at him through the mask and made a low growling noise. They had begun their short walk towards the castle of lions, which was waiting for them on the borders of the city, shields up. The paladins were all smiling around him, still happy about the victory.

Keith was a little embarrassed about being beat by Shiro, but he could let this one go for once. After all, he wanted to help them, and Borgro wouldn't have it any other way. Keith wondered if he'd have to leave them eventually. He couldn't imagine how upset Chelsi would be.

"So, Kioreth, what was it you and Matt do again?" Allura asked, breaking Keith's train of thought. He looked up at her and frowned. That's right, she wasn't there when he had told the others.

"Me and Matt are rebel actionmen." Keith said, trying to avoid conversation. He didn't want any of them to find out who he was. Though, he secretly wanted to be with them again, but he knew he would be rejected as soon as they figured out what he was.

"What're actionmen?" Pidge asked, raising an eyebrow and turning to look at Matt and Keith. Matt smiled and Keith sighed.

"We take the hard stuff. Like infiltration missions and full force attacks on Galran bases." Matt said, smiling. Pidge nodded and turned her attention to the steep hill they were ascending. Matt smirked and nudged Keith again.

"Kioreth here usually plans and leads the attacks." Matt said, mischievously grinning at Keith. Keith glared back as they both jumped onto the lower, flatter plain.

"Really?" Hunk asked, looking back at Keith. Keith turned his eyes away.

"Yea. He basically knows the Galran ships like the back of his hand. He can get us anywhere on the ship." Matt said smiling, but quickly regretted what he said.  _Crap, now they're going to want to ask Keith questions about how he can do that. Crap!_

Keith was now glaring hardly up at Matt, and he could feel it. The anger was practically radiating off his body. Matt rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. Shiro and the others could practically feel the growing tension between the two. But before they could ask any questions, they were standing in front of the castle.

"Oh! Here we are!" Coran exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips. He deactivated the shield and opened the doors. The paladins entered first. Keith slapped Matt on the back of his head and followed, Matt, rubbing his head, walked behind him.

"So, you said that Kioreth knew the ships like the back of his hand. Maybe you guys could help us on missions?" Lance said, smiling at the suggestion. Keith crossed his arms and glared at Matt, as if saying, 'This is why I didn't want to come.' Matt just shrugged at him and smiled back at Lance.

"Sure, we would love too." Matt said following them into the lounge room. Lance and Hunk flopped onto the couch, followed by Allura. Pidge went and sat at her computer, followed by Matt. Coran disappeared off to somewhere else, and Shiro stood next to Keith, who was leaning against a pillar.

The others had begun a conversation, but Kioreth wasn't really paying attention. He was just nervously tapping on his prosthetic arm. He didn't feel comfortable here like he used to, but, somehow, it still felt like home. He suddenly felt a small tap on his shoulder. Turning his head up, he looked to see the person he was least looking forward to seeing, Shiro.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?" Shiro asked. Keith hesitated. What should he do? It would be rude to say no, but he was nervous as to why Shiro wanted to take to him. Maybe he just wanted to ask about his fighting techniques. It was probably nothing.

"Sure." Keith said, getting up and following him through the glowing halls of the castle.

"You seem to know your way around this place pretty well." Shiro commented, walking right next to him. Keith flinched and let out a nervous laugh, looking at the ground.

"Well, it's not that hard. It's much less complicated then the Galran ships." Keith said, trying to lead Shiro away from getting to the point. He could feel Shiro watching his every move, he was going to have to be careful.

"So, were you a prisoner on the ships" Shiro asked. Keith mentally cursed.

"Yea." He said quietly. Shiro nodded, and stopped in front of his room. He pushed a button, opening the door. Keith tensed up, and began to nervously tap his clawed fingers on his legs. Shiro walked in and sat on the bed. He looked up at Keith, who was still standing like a wooden solider in the entrance, and motioned for him to come sit down. Keith nervously made his way over to him, and sat on the far end of the bed.

"You fought really well in the ring today. Where'd you learn those kind of moves?" Shiro asked smiling at him and putting his hands together. Keith mentally sighed and shifted into a more comfortable position.

"I...learned most of them at a young age, but I...improved when I was being held captive at the prisons." Keith said, hoping he didn't give Shiro any clues by what he said. Shiro just smiled sadly at him.

"I know those prisons are rough." Shiro said, smiling at Keith. Keith gave a small, nervous smile back. Shiro scooted closer, making Keith's ears perk up and his body tense. Shiro put a hand on his shoulder, causing Keith to flinch.

"Can I ask you something?" Shiro said, looking Keith directly in the eyes, even though they were still hidden by the mask. Keith nervously nodded.

"I have a brother, he was taken by the Galra. He was the red paladin of Voltron, he has black hair, and purple eyes." Shiro said, trying to describe Keith to Keith.

"Did...did you see him, at all? I really need to know if he's ok." Shiro said, grabbing Keith's shoulder tighter and staring sadly into his eyes. Keith could see the beginning of tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

"I...Um" Keith began, and nervously shook his head. Shiro sighed and sat back down. Putting his head in his hand. Crap, Keith thought. I should have said yes, but he knew Shiro would have asked me more questions, ones he couldn't answer honestly. After a long moment, Shiro sighed and looked up at him, eyes slightly red.

"Can I ask you something else?" Shiro said, voice cracking a little. Keith just solemnly nodded. Shiro took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He suddenly charged at Keith, startling Keith. He knocked Keith onto to floor, hitting him on the back of his head and breaking his mask. Keith let out a startled cry of pain.

He heard Shiro softly gasp. He opened his eyes and found no visor screen, and no mask. Keith's eyes went wide. Shiro just stared down at him in pure shock. He suddenly got up off of Keith and pulled him off of the ground. Keith barely had time to react as he was suddenly standing right in front of Shiro.

"Keith?" Shiro said in shock, voice barely above a whisper. Keith just looked down at the ground and shut his eyes tight, prepared for rejection. He flinched as a strong pair of arms wrapped him into a tight hug. He could feel Shiro's warm tears falling from his eyes. Keith didn't move, he was too shocked. Shiro just wrapped his arms tighter around him, crying, and muttering an apology.

"I missed you so much Keith. I-I'm so glad you're alive." Shiro whispered, breaking into a relieved smile. Keith looked down as Shiro released him from his hug, and looked down at him in concern.

"Keith? Are you ok?" Shiro asked, wondering if he had accidently made Keith hit his head to hard. Keith slowly looked up at him, tears forming in his eyes. Shiro's concern grew bigger.

"Y-you don't...hate me?" Keith said, trembling in fear. Shiro just looked down at him in shock. Where was this coming from? Was it because he was Galran? Was he afraid of him rejecting him? Shiro smiled down at his now sobbing brother. He put his hands gently on his face, whipping the tears away. Keith's head whipped up in shock, and he flinched.

"Hey, it's ok Keith. I could never, ever hate you. And just because you're purple, doesn't mean that I would hate you. You're my brother, and I will always love you, no matter what." Shiro said, slightly lowering himself to get eye level with Keith. His eyes were wide in shock. Shiro just smiled.

"R-really?" Keith whispered. Shiro smiled down at him.

"Really." He said. Keith's suddenly just broke into tears, and rushed at Shiro. Shiro's arms flew up in shock as Keith's arms wrapped tightly around him, but he quickly returned the hug. Keith was hysterically sobbing into Shiro's chest, grabbing tightly onto Shiro's shirt. He rubbed his head into his chest. Shiro put one of his arms up to rub Keith's hair.

"Hey, hey. It's ok. You're safe now. It's ok. I'm right here Keith." Shiro said, guiding Keith to sit down on the bed. Keith was still tightly gripping onto Shiro, refusing to let go of him. Shiro just smiled down at his brother.

"What happened to your arm Keith?" Shiro said, looking down at Keith's right arm. Keith lifted his head glanced down at it. He took a shaky breath.

"O-oh, this is armor." Keith said, taking it off. Shiro sighed, but turned his attention to the other one.

"What about the other one?" Shiro asked, tapping it. Shiro suddenly noticing the scars beneath it, just like his. Shiro's face paled in a look of sadness and horror.

"Keith, t-they didn't..." Shiro asked, not even able to finish the question. Keith just slowly nodded. Shiro let out a shaky sigh and put his forehead against Keith's.

"Does it still hurt?" Shiro asked. He could feel Keith's head carefully shake no. Shiro sighed.

"You still have nightmares though, don't you?" Shiro asked, closing his eyes, already knowing the answer. He felt Keith's head nod, he was still sniffing. Shiro just kept his eyes closed. He didn't want this to happen, not to Keith. He swore he wouldn't let this happen to any of the paladins, but it did. He could feel Keith's head move back into his chest. Small sobs racked Keith's body. Shiro pulled Keith in. He knew just how he felt.

"Hey, buddy. It's ok. You can sleep here tonight, ok? Does that sound good?" Shiro said, trying to calm Keith's sobs. Keith quickly nodded, still crying. Shiro wrapped his arms around Keith tighter, making small 'Shh' noises and rubbing his back, trying to make him feel safe.

He suddenly noticed a pair of large, dark purple ears sticking out from Keith's black hair. Shiro's curiosity suddenly set in as he gently began scratching them, just like he would a cat. Keith's sobbing had reduced to deep breaths and short sniffs. Keith still had his head buried in Shiro's chest.

Suddenly, a low rumble vibrated against Shiro's chest. Shiro's hands stopped in confusion. Was that Keith? He sounded just like a cat. Shiro tried not to laugh, but broke out into a few muffled snicker. Keith didn't even look up.

Shiro suddenly realized that Keith had fallen asleep. He was breathing softly, and, from what he could see, he looked relaxed. Shiro smiled down at him. He was so glad he was alive. He still was personally going to kill Zarkon himself, though. Keith's purrs had reduced to small snores, and nuzzled into Shiro's chest.

"Huh. Looks like I have a cat for a brother." Shiro said out loud, to no one in particular. He slowly pulled Keith off of him, which was difficult due to the claws that had been caught in his shirt. He got up and made his way to Keith's room. On his way back, he went into the lounge room, finding all of the paladins sound asleep. He smiled at the scene before turning back to go to his room.

He had grabbed Keith's pajamas. He didn't want Keith to be sleeping in his armor, even if it meant waking him up. He gently nudged Keith's shoulder, and he made a small noise of protest. Shiro smiled.

"Hey buddy, can you put these on? You'll be more comfy." Shiro said, trying to encourage him. Keith's yellow eyes slit open tiredly, looking at Shiro in tired confusion. Shiro gently pushed Keith up to a standing position. He handed Keith his p.js, standing still so he could allow Keith to grab onto him if he lost his balance, which he did, several times. Finally, after many failed attempts, Keith had his put on his p.js and was making his way slowly back to the bed. Shiro took his pajamas out of one of the drawers, quickly putting them on.

Keith was already wrapped up in the blankets, purring softly. Shiro sat next to the bed, legs up against his chest. Keith lifted his head, looking at his brother with confusion. Why was he on the floor? He reached out and tugged lazily on Shiro's loose, grey t-shirt. Shiro turned to look at him with a tired, half-asleep look.

"Why're you on the floor?" Keith asked, his voice slurred with sleep. Shiro smiled and let out a small laugh.

"Do you want me to sleep with you?" Shiro asked, giggling at Keith's child-like behavior. Then again, he probably hasn't had a hug, or any positive touch in a long time. Well, besides Matt. He would have to thank him later.

"Mmm." Keith said, tugging softly at Shiro, eyes half closed. Shiro slowly got up and laid down next to Keith. Keith just silently stared at him with his glowing yellow eyes. Shiro gently ruffled his hair.

"Get some rest, sleepy-head." Shiro said. Keith just nodded and closed his eyes. He was soon snoring softly, reassuring Shiro that he could finally go to sleep himself. His eyes closed, and no nightmares came to attack him.

 

Soft whimpers brought Shiro out of sleep. Shiro was a light sleeper, so it easily woke him up. He looked around, trying to find the source of the noise. Something whimpered again, and Shiro looked down. It was Keith, his face twisted in fear and pain. Another whimper escaped his throat, causing Shiro to look down at him sadly.

Keith's real arm was twitching, while the metal one was unmoving, and still. His ears were back against his head, his mouth was slightly open, revealing long and sharp looking fangs. With a careful sigh, Shiro gently laid back down and gently scooted Keith's sleeping form closer to him.  _It's just like when we were younger_ , he thought to himself. Keith's right hand grasped Shiro's shirt tightly, claws barely grazing his skin. Shiro rubbed Keith's ears, making more comforting 'Shh' noises. Keith's whimpers quieted, and his face grew more relaxed. Shiro gently wrapped his arms around him, whispering into his ear.

_I won't leave you, ok? This time, I really do promise._


	17. Chapter 17

Shiro slowly opened his eyes to a calming, white ceiling, illuminated with bright blue lights. He slowly got up and rubbed his eyes; he rested his hands on his knees. He groggily stared off into space and yawned, trying to wake himself up. He turned to look at the sheets next to him, expecting to see his brother sleeping. But he was only met with an empty space besides him.

He looked at the bed, confused. Had it all just been a dream? Had Keith really come back? Was he really a Galra? Shiro realized that he didn't care if he had been, or was a Galra. He just wanted clarification. A sign that he hadn't started hallucinating his brother, as a Galra, none the less, out of loss. Maybe he had just gotten up earlier than him. Yea, that was probably it.

He stumbled out of bed and trudged towards a small dresser against the wall. He took off his pajamas slowly, still slightly caught in sleeps spell. He carefully grabbed hold of one of the corners while putting on his pants, trying not to lose balance. As he was putting on his shirt, he noticed a small piece of yellowish paper on top of the dresser. Was that there before?

He tugged his shirt over his head and picked up the paper, examining it. He turned it over in his hand, seeing no writing. He breathed out a slightly irritated sigh, and began to put the paper back. His fingers gently brushed the edge, making the edge split in half. Realizing that it was folded, he gently began to undo the careful and meticulous folds. He looked over it curiously.

It was a note, quickly written in Japanese. It was a good thing that Japanese was his native language, or he wouldn't have been able to read it. Well, even If he couldn't, he could always ask Pidge for help. He was sure that he universal translator could manage Japanese. He squinted at the delicate and small characters, which read:

_Shiro,_

_Sorry for leaving early. Borgro called me and had me go back to the shop to do some work. I really would've stayed at the castle for longer, but I didn't really want the others to find out about me. I don't want to become the enemy to them. Just please know that I'll be ok. Just stay safe, and make sure the others do to._

_Keith._

Shiro stood in his the center of his room, wide eyed. So it hadn't been a dream. Keith was really alive. He wiped the beginning of tears from his eyes and smiled at Keith's carefully written note, his only confirmation that he hadn't just dreamed him up. He folded it gently and set it in his pant pocket, where it would be safe. He quickly put on his grey jacket (vest?), knowing that the team would probably be waiting for him.

He walked out of the door, glancing up and down the hall. None one was in sight. They must all have all gotten up already, just like he predicted. Taking a left, he quickly walked down the white and blue halls, looking for any of the paladins. Where could they be? After checking the dining room, training room, and the lounge, he finally found them, all sitting down lazily in the main control room.

"Morning Shiro!" Hunk called as he walked into the room, lightening the whole room with his smile. Shiro smiled back at him.

"Hey Hunk. Everyone get a good rest?" Shiro asked to him and the others. Everyone nodded.

"Man, I haven't slept that good in weeks! It felt good!" Lance exclaimed, stretching back lazily into his chair. Allura gave a small smile and nodded.

"Yes. It was a rest we all deserved." She said in her British-like accent. The others all made noises of agreement.

"Where's Kioreth?" Pidge asked, looking around the room. Matt smiled and leaned onto one of the arm rests of her chair.

"He had to leave early again." He said, sighing and shrugging. Pidge looked over to him and frowned.

"But why? Didn't he have to do that last time he was here?" She asked, putting her face in her hands.

"Yea, what's his problem?" Lance said, sitting up with a slightly annoyed look on his face. Matt shrugged again.

"Borgro called him again. Kioreth's not the type to disobey direct orders. Besides, he's a captain, so he's busy a lot more than the rest of us." Matt said in a light defensive tone. Lance frowned, obviously not satisfied with the answer.

"Aren't you his second though?" Hunk asked Matt, who was no relaxing against the side of Pidge's chair.

"Yea, but he called Kioreth for a captains meeting, for captains only. And besides, I have a contacting device. So if they need me, they'll call me." Matt said, holding up a thin, orange and grey device proudly. Pidge immediately went wide eyed and made noises of awe, and quickly snatched it out of his hands.

"Woah, cool! Is it like a phone?" She asked, turning it over in her hands. Matt playfully reached up for it, not exactly trying to get it back.

"I guess, except it's not as cool. It just tracks other members and lets us call each other." Matt said, as Pidge gently put it back into his open hand. Matt slid it casually into a slot in his belt.

"But Kioreth doesn't even talk when he's here. He just, I don't know, feels angry." Lance whined.

"Feels angry?" Shiro asked, confused.

"Yea. It's not like I can really tell if he is. He wears that creepy mask all the time! How does he even see?" Lance yelled. Matt snickered.

"Yea. How does he see?" Hunk asked to no one in particular, putting a hand on his chin thoughtfully.

"It has a visor under it. It's built so that only he can see through it." Matt said, making a tapping motion by his eyes.

Why? What's he hiding? And why's he so quiet? I don't get it...What's his deal?" Lance yelled at first, but finished with a grumble, clearly not done with Kioreth. Matt laughed.

"He's not a people person like you Lance. He's just...really shy. He doesn't like to talk much." Matt said, trying to wave it off. Lance was still frowning, not satisfied.

"Yeah, but why's he so grumpy?" Lance asked. "I always feel like he wants to kill me!" He said, throwing up his arms into the air. Shiro smiled, remembering the moment Lance first complained to Shiro about Keith. Shiro fondly remembered that he had almost said the exactly the same words.

"Hey, he's been through a lot, and he just doesn't trust people very much anymore. I assure you that he doesn't hate you Lance. Just please don't get on his bad side." Matt said, smirking. Lance frowned, but this time, it was more in sympathy. Maybe he had been too quick to judge. He turned and looked down at the floor.

"What happens when you get on his bad side?" Coran asked in curiosity. Matt laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"Let's just say that you'll get a painful jolt. It's no fun." Matt said, clearly from experience.

"Jolt?" Allura asked, tilting her head.

"Yea, from his arm. He can make and channel electricity through it. It's super cool!" Matt said with an excited expression on his face. Keith had let him experiment and test with it many times, so he knew all about it.

"Wait, but, don't you two fight all the time?" Hunk asked nervously, making Matt smiled.

"Nah, that's just a training exercise we like to do. It prepares us for real life battle, and lets out all of our energy." Matt said excitedly, "You guys should try it some time." Hunk shook his head quickly.

"I think I'm good. I pretty sure he'd kill me within the first few seconds." He said, putting his hands together nervously.

"Nah, Kioreth wouldn't kill anyone. Though, I'm lucky he goes easy on me. He could easily kill me in seconds, snap in half like a twig, and then shock me to death." Matt said, smiling mischievously, graphically raising his hands and making a snapping motion. Hunk, Lance, and Allura all shivered.

"He's really that strong?" Shiro asked, clearly shocked at what Matt claimed his brother could do. Matt nodded with a smile.

"Really? What kind of alien is he?" Lance asked Matt with a pondering look on his face. Matt flinched nervously, his mind quickly racing for a false explanation, or an excuse to not answer.

"Yea, he looks kind of like a Galra. Is he?" Pidge asked. Matt knew he couldn't lie, especially with Pidge here. He hadn't revealed his identity, but that was different, because he wasn't necessarily lying.

"Well, not exactly." Matt said subconsciously, earning both looks of shock and confusion from everyone in the room, except for Shiro, who wasn't exactly surprised, just curious. Matt's eyes went wide at the realization of what he had just said. He realized that it was too late to make up a lie now.

"What do you mean?" Allura said, narrowing her eyes. Matt rubbed the back of his head.

"Um...Crap, I wasn't supposed to say that." Matt said, looking down. The others gave confused looks and narrowed their eyes in suspicion.

"Why?" Pidge asked curiously, leaning over her arm rest to look at her brother. He looked around the room nervously. Matt put a hand on his head.

"Ugh, I'm so dead. He's going to kill me..." Matt whined, knowing that they were going to drag the answer out of him. He should've just lied, or at least tried to.

"Who? Kioreth?" Lance asked, clearly interested now, since he was also leaning towards Matt.

"Yes." He muttered quietly.

"Aw come on, just tell us! What's your mysterious friends hiding, hmm? " Coran exclaimed, sitting down in front of Matt. The others all followed suit, all except for Shiro, who had come closer, but was still standing. The others were all looking at him with big, interested eyes like hungry owls. Matt sighed in defeat.

"Ugh, fine. He's only half Galra. I wasn't supposed to tell you because he doesn't want to be considered the enemy. He's really good, I swear! He just really wants to help people. But, it would be a lot harder if they knew he was Galra." Matt said, nervously putting one of his hands on his head. The others stared at him bug-eyed, clearly not expecting such a defensive answer. They all glanced at each other.

"Oh, I'm so dead." Matt groaned, putting his head in his knees. Allura and the others smiled. Shiro did too. It was like he was a child caught in a lie, bursting with confession.

"Well, I don't see it as a problem." Lance said, sitting back. Matt looked up in shock.

"Nor do I." Allura said, smiling.

"Yeah, I think that's kind of sweet!" Hunk said, grinning widely.

"Besides, we know plenty of good Galra." Coran said, stoking his mustache thoughtfully.

"Really?" Matt said, clearly surprised. They all nodded. Matt smiled.

"Haha. He would be really happy to hear that." Matt said, sighing in relief. The others all smiled and laughed. They all eventually stood up, engaging in their own conversations. Matt smiled, he wished Keith could be hear. He knew how afraid Keith was of them finding out, but know that they knew he was Galra, they probably would accept him.

"Hey Matt." Shiro said, putting his hand on Matts shoulder. Matt looked up at him.

"Yeah?" Matt asked, wondering what he wanted.

"Can I talk to you?" Shiro asked. Matt looked up at him hesitantly before nodding. Was this about Kioreth? Did Shiro know something?

"What is it?" Matt asked, tilting his head. Shiro put his hand on the back of his head nervously.

"Did...did you know about Keith?" He asked, stumbling over his words. What if Matt didn't know that Kioreth was Keith? Shiro assumed that he did, since he knew a lot about Keith already.

"What? That he's missing?" Matt asked, his eyebrows pulling down into a sad look. He folded his arms over his chest, looking at Shiro, hoping that this was all he wanted to tell him. Shiro shook his head.

"No. Not that." Shiro said, folding his arms and glancing down at the ground. Matt got even more nervous, but attempted to cover it with a shaky smile.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes and trying to remain calm. Shiro paused. Did Matt really not know? After a moment of hesitation, Shiro closed his eyes and let out a nervous sigh. He had to know. He knew that he was Galra, and he was really friendly with him. He decided that that was reason enough.

"Kioreth." Shiro said bluntly, not knowing how else to put it. Matt's eyebrows raised in shock and confusion. What was that supposed to mean? Crap! How did he find out? Did he find out? Crap! Crap! CRAP! What was he supposed to do? Shiro was the last person that Keith wanted his identity revealed to! Matt's head ran in panic, as he looked down at the ground with wide eyes.

"W-what?" Matt stuttered, looking up. Shiro's eyes narrowed, and he took a suspicious step forward. Matt's eyes dashed around nervously, and he put a hand on his bow staff. Should he knock him out? He quickly threw the thought to the back of his mind, deciding only to do it if absolutely necessary. He watched as Shiro lifted his head to glance around them, checking for any unwanted listeners. After a moment, he sighed and looked back at Matt.

"Did you know the truth about Kioreth? And Keith?" Shiro asked calmly and quietly, staring deeply into his best friend's eyes. Matt's panicked expression turned into relief, and slight concern.

"Yea. I did. But how did you—find out?" Matt asked quietly. Shiro let out a small laugh.

"I may have accidently broken his helmet while we were talking last night. And, I had already guessed it was him. The fight in the ring was a dead giveaway." Shiro said, folding his arms gently over his chest. Matt nodded. He knew that Keith's unique fighting style would give him away eventually.

"Yeah, I figured." Matt said. Shiro smiled again.

"So, how did you two meet up?" He asked. Matt laughed.

"It's a long story, I'd tell you all about it, but we might want to do it somewhere more, private than the hallway." Matt said, gesturing to the wide open space that they were in. Shiro nodded.

 

"Probably."

 

Keith sat on a sandstone stool in the backroom of Borgro's shop, lost in thought. He carefully wrapped his bruised and bloody arms in cloth bandages, while a concerned Chelsi watched him from her stool in front of him.

"Does it hurwt?" She asked eyeing his left arm. Keith's golden, clouded eyes, not hidden by the mask, blinked and looked up at her. He looked down at his black, metal prosthetic, which seemed to stare back at him mockingly. He gave a small, but sad smile.

"Sometimes." He rasped, voice barely above a whisper. Flashbacks and dark memories of his "training" danced around in his head. He strongly remembered that horrid pain of having his lower limb torn from his body. He took a shaky breath, arm shaking at the horrible memories of all the pain he experienced from just one session alone. His eyes grew glassy, and breathing became harder and harder. He firmly grabbed his prosthetic, electricity gently sparking from his fingers, connecting with each other and shooting upwards. Where am I?  **WhEre aM I?**

Suddenly, he felt a tiny, yet heavy hand fall onto his right. His eyes snapped open wide, body tensed up, ready to attack. His head whipped up sharply, and his eyes froze on the tiny, caring brown alien. Whose eyes showed, fear? Not fear of him, but fear for him. His wide, glassy eyes froze on the tiny alien.

Chelsi. That's right.

_Breathe._

He was in the shop.

_Breathe._

He had just finished a mission.

_In._

He was with Chelsie.

_Out._

Not in the prison.

He took a deep, shaky breathe in. His head hung low as tears fell from his eyes. Chelsie gently climbed onto his lap, careful not to startle him. She had seen many of the other rebels do the same thing. Luckily, Uncle Borgro had taught her just what to do. She gently wrapped her six arms around Keith's sides, her size made it impossible for her to wrap her arms around the much larger alien. Suddenly, Keith's shaky arms wrapped around Chelsi, grateful for the comfort.

"Thank you, Chelsi." Keith whispered.


End file.
